


Serendipity

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Byleth Is Socially Awkward, Character Death, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:26:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25263067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Byleth was one of Sothis's favored angels. She was obedient, quick to learn, and above all else, a far cry from her usually boastful vassals. Her work was carried out dutifully and with nary a misstep; she was a servant to the goddess and had been since the day she had died…it was a position she took gratefully.Edelgard von Hresvelg complicated things.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 73
Kudos: 325





	1. Killed the Cat

_Byleth had drawn her sword and was running through the forest before she could think. She didn’t need to. The sky was dark and foreboding, but she knew that it would soon give way to the young rays of sun that would shower the clouds in pink and white. But for now she only had the fading, faint torchlight to see by._

_The soles of her old leather boots pounded against the earth, it was the loudest sound she could make out, only rivaled by the frantic breathing that came with the labor of sprinting. She didn’t know who it was that had screamed, she didn’t know why_ she _was the one running towards it. A bad feeling had settled in every fiber of her being the moment she had sprung from her and her dad’s shared home. She could hear him yelling in the distance behind her._

_She knew he would catch up eventually, but for now, she needed to get to whoever it was, whoever’s voice that had shot through the peace of dawn in Remire._

_Byleth wasn’t sure how long she had been running, but by the time she had broken through the treeline her legs had long since lost most of their feeling yet still tingled with tension. Her eyes took in the situation before her brain did, which she was convinced was still left behind under the sheets of her beaten up mattress._

_There were only three bandits in total, it was manageable, even without her father who would be there soon anyways. She then found the source of her distress._

_A girl, not much younger than herself, was within the clutches of the burliest looking man there, who Byleth figured to be the leader. She was struggling violently against his grip on the back of her pretty red dress. Her clothes were caked in dirt and dust, streaked with mud. Soft-looking tawny hair was done up in pigtails that had become askew._

_Had it been under any other circumstance, Byleth would have used her head. She could handle ruffians like these, even if she was only a kid. She knew that she needed to be careful, regardless. Her father always stressed the importance of keeping calm and rational._

_When the girl screamed again she couldn’t remember to breathe._

_Byleth had darted forward, her sword in a white-knuckled grip. The other two bandits noticed her and shouted something that she couldn’t make out. She had her blade skewered through one before he could draw his own steel._

_The other, a woman, was prepared. When Byleth swung at her, she deflected, their blades crossing. Byleth was knocked backwards, her back hitting the ground and robbing her of much needed oxygen. She regained her footing just as metal cut cleanly across the side of her face, if there was any pain Byleth didn’t feel it. She focused on the bandit’s legs, her sword hitting home just below the knee and cutting deep. The woman yelled out a curse and the opening was all Byleth needed to finish the job._

_She was so sure of herself._

_Her attention swung to the leader who was charging at her with an axe that probably weighed about half as much as she did. When he brought it down, she hardly managed to dodge the surely fatal would-be blow. He wasn’t as careless as his underlings, it showed in the way that he held himself and his weapon. For the brevity of only a moment, Byleth considered stalling until her father arrived. But when she saw the little girl cowering against the base of a tree with tears pooling in fearful lilac eyes, she knew that it wasn’t an option she was willing to consider any longer._

_She took her sword and attacked ungracefully, still managing to score a few hits as she danced around the leader’s axe. She knew that even one hit from such a powerful weapon would likely render her useless. That thought kept her focused as she fought. She was small, tiny even, in comparison to the man that towered over her, but she used that size to her advantage. He was strong but slow, and she was weaker but fast. It was a matter of who slipped up first._

_Byleth was running out energy. She was getting messier in her dodging and was slowing down. She didn’t know where her father was, he should’ve caught up to her by now. He always seemed to be saving her from whatever mess she got herself into and she couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to be the one time he couldn’t swoop in and rescue her._

_When the axe caught her in the shoulder Byleth hadn’t ever felt a pain so great in her short life. She managed to pull away, clutching the wound with water starting to flood her vision. She didn’t have time to lament, however, as the bandit leader seemed to have had just about enough of the twelve-year old and let out a maniacal laugh as he lifted the axe high above her head._

_It was an overzealous move on his part, and the opening was simply too great for Byleth to not notice. She summoned the last of her strength and targeted his chest, slipping underneath his swing and jabbing her blade skywards and finding purchase in the rough muscle of his stomach._

_She shoved her sword as deep as it would go, feeling the warm blood of her victim stream down the blade and onto her hands. Once she felt him go limp, she snatched the weapon back, letting him fall unceremoniously to the ground in a heap._

_Panting, she focused a stare at the girl who was frozen where she stood, her small body trembling._

_Byleth dropped her sword in favor of pressing her hand against the gash on her shoulder as she inched her way over to the girl. She imagined that her appearance wasn’t one that would ease her terror, but wanted to know-_ had to know _that she was okay._

_She was searching for the words, trying to figure out what to say, Byleth was never good at it. She wanted to comfort her, tell her it was alright, because even if it wasn’t, she was going to make it alright for her because no one so small deserved to be so scared._

_That was her plan, anyway._

_As she finally stopped before the girl, ready to offer up her name, a greeting, and a question of how she was doing, Byleth saw her black pupils expand so wide that it nearly consumed all of the lavender and figured, stupidly, it was because she was fearful of her._

_It wasn’t until the axe had buried into her back that she realized that she was wrong._

_The last thing she had heard was an ear-splitting scream before she died._

. . .

Byleth stretched her wings as far as she was able, letting each flap of the powerful limbs carry her higher. There were few things she could safely say she found enjoyable, flying was one of them. 

There was a certain freedom she felt with the act, one that she was sure her peers often took for granted. Byleth had long ago accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be able to quite understand other angels, not that it bothered her. She was content to fill her days with the work of keeping tabs on Fodlan and following through with Sothis’s orders, it was the least she felt she could do. 

She pushed through the final barrier of magic-riddled clouds that hung high in the air. When Sothis had learned of the human perception of Heaven as some cloudy expanse of white and gold, she had laughed. 

Before promptly changing her domain to fit the notion. 

At least that’s the story that had been told to Byleth when she had arrived for the first time. It seemed ridiculous to her now as she coursed above the golden, sparkling gates that served no purpose other than for glamour. Angels flocked about creamy white buildings that were, again, mostly for show although some held important documentations and others designed as areas for angels who weren’t currently active. Some were returning from their errands and others just heading out.

She only ever had business at the topmost of Sothis’s realm, where the goddess sat high upon a stony throne that contrasted with the rest of her creation. Here the sky darkened and gave way to a greenish tint that enveloped Byleth the higher she flew. There was a sort of calmness that fell over her, the clamour of other angels below faded away and was replaced by nothing save for a comfortable silence. 

Byleth banked, gracefully coming to a halt as she landed before the goddess’s throne. Her wings outstretched as she bowed in a greeting, one arm crossing over her heart, before she folded them gently against her back. 

“I’ve told you entirely too many times to do away with the formalities.” 

Sothis was sprawled over the throne, one leg draped lazily over the side as the rest of her body turned to face the angel that was in her presence. Her eyes were warm and welcoming as a stark contrast to the reprimanding tone of voice she spoke with to Byleth often. 

“My apologies,” Byleth replied although she knew Sothis heard the insincerity there. She climbed the short flight of stairs to the goddess, sitting cross-legged on the platform her throne rested on, the way she always had. 

Not many angels could get away with coming up to Sothis unannounced. She wasn’t particularly against having an audience with her vassals, and clearly cared deeply for all of them, but...she had favorites.

Byleth fell into that slim, delicate category. 

“There isn’t much to report today. The monastery is about to begin this year’s classes.” The angel said, glancing down at her hands before adding quietly, “Your daughter seems happy.”

Sothis let out a wry, short laugh. It was laced with a silent sadness. “What she appears to feel and what she actually does are often two different things.” She shifted where she sat fixing Byleth with an amused stare. “Although, I doubt you can read that deeply into it.”

“I can only speak for what I see.” 

Sothis sat forward and ruffled her hair, Byleth knew the blue strands would be wild following the contact. “You see much, yet understand little. I watch over her myself, and ‘happy’ is not the word best suited for her current state.”

Byleth blinked up at her, batting away the hand that had tussled through her already wild hair. “I don’t follow.” 

“Of course not,” Sothis sighed, reclining once more against the back of her throne. “That is more my fault than your own, however.” 

Byleth left it at that, not wanting to hear Sothis regale to her for the hundredth time her own death and how she felt as if she had wronged the child Byleth once was somehow. She blamed herself a lot, too much, Byleth figured. 

She didn’t care about her life before.

It had run its course, however short it had been. It was over now, and that was fine. _She_ was fine, just tired of the pitiful looks she got any time she was around her peers. That empathy was unnecessary, and all Byleth wanted was for everyone to stop seeing her as the scared and lonely kid she had once been. 

Children didn’t, shouldn’t fall among angels. So she grew herself up as best she was able so she could stop hearing that phrase in whispers that followed her like a curse. 

Byleth flicked her wings, watching the pristine white feathers flutter in the dim lighting. It was odd to see such pretty things attached to someone who looked as rugged as she did even after nine years, but she cared for her wings as if they were borrowed, not wanting to taint something that Sothis had bestowed upon her. 

“Will you go visit your father?” 

Byleth winced, her hand stopping short of the feathers she had intended to brush with her fingers. It was a pointed question, one that the goddess always asked. When she was a child, she had given the excuse that she wasn’t ready. When she was a teenager, she had raised her voice at the goddess for the first time in an emotion that was so misplaced that she still apologized for it to this day. Everyday since, she had opted for simply ignoring the question. 

Jeralt was alive and well, she heard his name mentioned every so often amongst the long list of names that were spoken throughout the days. She never listened beyond that, however. She avoided any task that involved getting close to his whereabouts, making a point of monitoring places on the complete opposite sides of the continent from him if she was able. 

Something within her kept her away from him.

Most angels would spend some time watching over their loved ones, once again Byleth was an anomaly in that regard. She had seen some come to their friends and family disguised as humans if only for the chance to talk with them again. It was a luxury Sothis provided them with, under the condition that they assisted her with her task of keeping order in Fodlan. 

Part of that order meant that no matter how many forms the angels could take, they were never allowed to stay forever. The pain of separation always seemed to hurt worse the second or third time Sothis whisked them back to Heaven, and they chased the possibility of some day being allowed to visit again or until everyone they knew inevitably died. 

Byleth never wanted to see herself like that.

“Humor me, child,” Sothis began resting her chin atop crossed hands. “How long do you plan to keep following that Hresvelg girl like a shadow?” 

If she had been anyone else, Byleth thinks she may have blushed at the question. It wasn’t as if she thought she could hide her whereabouts from Sothis, she always seemed to know everything despite the fact that it quite frankly wasn’t possible. Otherwise she wouldn’t need the angels to flit about Fodlan for her. 

“Would you like me to stop?” Byleth flicked her gaze up to the goddess, her head tilting slightly to one side. She knew that Sothis only meant to tease, if she really minded she would have told her as much already. 

Sothis shrugged, a smirk tugging on her lips. “What you do in your free time does not matter to me. I was simply wondering why you’re so _obsessed_ with her.” 

Byleth decided to let her have the reaction she was looking for.

“I am not.” She replied, feeling her voice dip into a lower octave. “I am not obsessed.” 

Edelgard von Hresvelg. That was the name of the little girl Byleth had traded her life for. She hadn’t really come to a conclusion on how she felt about that, and didn’t want to know what would follow once she did. She had been impulsive the morning of her demise, maybe if she had been thinking more clearly she wouldn’t...be here. 

It had taken some time for her to finally pluck up the mixture of curiosity and courage she needed to fly to the girl. When she finally did, she found Edelgard and her siblings chained underneath the palace in Enbarr. The angels were well aware of Those Who Slither in the Dark but Sothis hadn’t given them any orders to act against them. Byleth had been waiting for the day that she could. 

She had been there as each of Edelgard’s siblings died, getting the chance to escort one of them herself to Sothis. She had watched the horrific experiments, watched as the girl she had tried so desperately to save slowly descended into the recesses of her own mind. She felt powerless at those times, and hated to have to leave even if in actuality she hadn’t really been there in the first place. 

When Edelgard was finally freed Byleth knew that the experience would scar her forever. She could see it in every aspect that she had been changed, even down to the now snowy white hair that brushed at her back. Byleth stopped going to her for a few years after that, a strange sensation came over her every time she saw Edelgard and she wasn’t ready to embrace the possibilities of what it could mean. Old habits die hard, though, and as if she had been summoned, one day the angel found herself flying back to the palace and there she had frequented ever since.

It wasn’t an obsession, at least in her eyes. If that were the case then Sothis was obsessed with all of humanity, having angels scour the land in her stead and report the activity of the people of Fodlan, lest there come a day when her precious continent be overturned in bloodshed. Although it was rare she ever intervened. She had limited powers that seemed to only grow weaker with time and use. Byleth wondered occasionally, even if there were some calamity that befell Fodlan, would she truly be able to stop it? 

Regardless, she held the goddess in high regard. Even if their relationship and Byleth’s general attitude suggested otherwise, because it didn’t matter how powerful and mighty Sothis was; she was an absolute _child_ at times and admitting how much she admired her was out of the question. 

“If it’s not obsession then what would you call it?” She had a cheshire grin that let Byleth know that the goddess already had her own thoughts about her interest in Edelgard. 

“Curiosity,” she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear dismissively. “It’s nothing more than that.”

“I know you well, and I know that it _is_ more than that.” 

Byleth wanted very, very badly to smack the grin off of her face. 

Only because she was right, and hated it.

Thankfully, it seemed Sothis was through trying to pick her to pieces. If she had wanted, Byleth was sure she could have casted a mind-reading spell of some sort, but the goddess tended to avoid using her powers to get up to too much mischief. Most of the time, anyways.

They fell into a comfortable silence, Byleth moving to rest her head in the goddess’s lap and Sothis stroking her hair gently. The angel was of few words amongst others, truthfully she only ever spoke when spoken to but she found that Sothis had a way of coaxing some semblance of conversation out of her. Ultimately though, she would always run out of ways to voice her thoughts and opinions. So she communicated the only way she knew how.

She was thankful, more than she would ever be willing to voice, that Sothis understood her. Understood that words were the biggest mystery to her, speaking was a challenge and it always brought her more harm than good in the end. The goddess didn’t need words, unlike her vassals, and could match Byleth’s tempo. The hand running through her hair was enough, the twitch of her wings and even the small sighs of contentment told Sothis all she would need to know.

Byleth wasn’t sure how long she laid there, feeling the warmth that radiated from the goddess and reveling in the comfort that their shared contact gave her. Time was hard to for her to measure on a good day since she had died, but the lack of light in Sothis’s realm made it simply impossible. Angels didn’t need to sleep, but she had felt herself dozing off regardless. The security she felt when she was wrapped up in Sothis’s presence would have been concerning if she didn’t trust the goddess with all of her being. 

“You’ll let me stay with you again?” Byleth heard her own quiet voice question, lifting her eyes to meet the pools of emerald green. Sothis never paused in her stroking of her hair, a soft smile coming to rest on her features.

“I’ve truly coddled you too much already,” she sighed in exasperation Byleth knew was fake. “But I suppose I must look after you myself now, seeing as you’ll never make any friends with that social ineptness of yours.”

Byleth rolled her eyes but said nothing, allowing herself to be pulled under by the heaviness of sleep.

...

When she awoke, it was to Sothis nudging her with a knee. Byleth rolled to her feet as if she hadn’t been asleep to begin with. There was no grogginess that came with waking up the way she had remembered from when she was younger, something she was grateful for now.

She didn’t need to be told that she had to leave, she wasn’t the only angel that required the goddess’s attention. She was lucky that she had been able to rest as long as she did. 

With a curt nod and a ‘see you’ tossed over her shoulder, Byleth spread her wings, rising high for a moment before allowing herself to dive downwards. 

The sun had painted the sky a brilliant mixture of orange and pink as she lofted amongst pale clouds, letting the wind carry her on a current while she twisted her body in the air to face the direction of the imperial palace. She knew that if Sothis could see her, she would have laughed, knowing exactly what Byleth’s intentions were. 

The angel hadn’t flown to see Edelgard in a few weeks, contrary to Sothis’s comparison of her to a shadow. She hardly had the time to loom over the girl’s shoulder every waking moment, not that she exactly wanted to anyway. A part of her never quite grew to accept the idea of watching over humans, it felt like an invasion of privacy when she thought too deeply on it. It wasn’t as if angels had much else to do, and like their goddess, humanity was their greatest form of entertainment while simultaneously also being their greatest responsibility. 

There were enough of them to cover the whole continent, if there was a major event, angels likely had known about it before it had even occurred. They weren’t omnipotent, but their numbers were decent and with the magic that Sothis had granted them, communication was easy no matter where they were. It was incredible, to say the least. Which angel watched over which parts of Fodlan changed as Sothis saw fit, but mostly she left them to their own devices and most simply traveled from one area to another, gathering information as they went. 

Some took to listening in on conversations between notable lords and leaders in the territories, others watched over cities and towns. 

They needed to be always alert and vigilant during their work, mostly to help guide the souls of those who passed away. 

Byleth strayed as far from the task as possible, usually, and had only taken the souls of those that hadn’t been noticed by her peers. She hated the fear and confusion that seemed to emanate from them, passing them off into Heaven as soon as she was able. Although, she knew that someday she would be there to collect that of her father, and likely one day, Edelgard’s. She couldn’t fathom the thought of anyone else escorting their souls, the thought lit a cold fire within her. 

She flew harder now, her wings beating a steady rhythm, knowing that the speed she was reaching was only thanks to Sothis’s blessings. 

The palace stood tall and imposing as ever. Although she had technically lost the ability to feel things outside of Sothis’s realm, Byleth could’ve sworn she felt a chill run down her spine each time she saw the age-old edifice. 

She knew her way around by now, and let herself dip down until she had reached the west wing of the building, simply phasing through the wall and allowing herself to tuck her wings against her back as she ambled through the hall. Adrestia had a thing for red, as it was _everywhere_. The carpet laid out down the winding hall was velvet, scarlet trimmings where the wall met floor. The bases of beige columns were covered in intricate maroon paint. It was amusing to her, how keen the architect of this place seemed to be with the theme, and she preferred to take her time walking through. 

It naturally didn’t take her long to find Edelgard’s room. It had a doorframe more elegantly decorated than the others on the hall, but Byleth would’ve been able to find it even if it had been bland and not so clearly marked as the chambers belonging to someone important. 

The two large doors were, naturally, useless against the fact that she wasn’t physically of this realm and could slip through them with ease. She wasn’t sure that Edelgard would be in her chambers, although Byleth figured it would be the most appropriate place to look. 

The princess’s room was tidy and hardly looked inhabited at all, her bed was always made to perfection and nothing ever seemed out of place when the angel visited. It was odd, as she figured the heir to the throne would have had more personal belongings or decorated more lavishly, but it didn’t seem to be the case with Edelgard.

The girl in question was huddled over her desk with a quill in hand, dressed in a regal-looking white blouse and a crimson skirt that fell just above the knee. She was writing, something Byleth found that she tended to do often, although she never had the nerve to look at exactly what it could be. 

She had no purpose or reason for being here, if she was being honest. 

However, she seemed to be drawn in to the princess whether it be in life or death; a thought that made the corner of her mouth twitch. 

The angel settled on the wide windowsill that she typically chose to perch whenever she passed through. A few colorful birds sang sweetly to her as they too flocked on the other side of the polished glass. Animals could sense her and her kind, Byleth had learned. Whatever ability they possessed to feel her presence was lost on humans, save for those near death or newly born. Their tendency to be drawn to the angels was the only indicator that she was present in this realm, although it wasn’t often that any of Fodlan’s people caught on to that little clue. 

Edelgard did raise her head, looking at the sudden disruption. If she hadn’t known better, Byleth would’ve thought that it was her that the princess was gazing at, but she knew that no matter how loud she yelled or how frantically she tried that she would be unable to reach her like this. 

In some small part of a heart she didn’t possess she wished that it wasn’t the case.

She wondered what Edelgard would make of her now, what she would think if one day she could finally see Byleth sitting there with the evening sun illuminating her as opposed to filtering through. There were always birds that came to her if she sat on the windowsill. Would the princess catch on to what it could mean one day, even if it seemed preposterous? Something clenched in her chest when Edelgard looked on for a beat longer, hoped that maybe her wishful thinking had been brought into fruition. 

And then her eyes turned back to her desk where she picked up her quill and continued to write. 

Byleth watched her back, tracing the outline of the muscle there for a few minutes. She rose to her feet and stalked over to the girl, letting her hand pass right through Edelgard’s shoulder. Something horrible and cold clawed its way from her chest to squeeze her windpipe, leaving phantom scars along her real-yet-not body. 

She had felt this way the most around Edelgard, specifically when she had been held prisoner for the crest experiments. It only grew worse after she had realized that the princess would never fully recover, it was why she had tried to flee the first time. Now, that feeling had become a part of her routine, only vanquished when she had thoroughly distracted herself. She had no name for it, but hated the little monster that caused the invisible pain all the same. Yet, it was one of the only things she _could_ feel these days. So, she let it eat away at her for as long as it wished until it dissipated into the back of her mind. 

Byleth watched the princess write from her new spot on the floor, her whole focus now dedicated to the task of scribbling down letters on the parchment. The sound of the quill against paper and her breathing filled the silence between the princess and the ghost of someone who had once been living as well. 

Edelgard always changed every time Byleth saw her.

She always had a new scar, a new crease to her forehead, a new set of dark circles under her eyes. Time had not been unkind to her, even if she looked so little like the child Byleth had once known. She was beautiful to the angel’s eyes, gorgeous through each of the wondrous flaws she presented. Byleth had seen too much perfection in her time and had grown sick of it. 

Eventually, the sun had tired of riding through the sky and had sunken back over the horizon, leaving them in a slowly encroaching darkness. Edelgard stood abruptly, the sound of her wooden chair scraping the floorboards piercing the silence. Byleth presumed she had risen to fetch a candle to see by, but instead left the room entirely, the heavy doors sliding shut behind her.

The angel took it as a cue to leave, and she fluttered to her feet as well, prepared for the short flight back to Heaven when her eyes, moving of their own volition, traveled to the papers Edelgard had abruptly left abandoned on her desk. 

_Curiosity, it’s nothing more than that._

Oh how It seemed to be neverending when it came to the princess.

Byleth wasn’t one to stick her nose where it didn’t belong. She had learned that it often led to more trouble than good. Yet, she couldn’t help but wonder. Even if it was something as bland as dealing with the Empire’s political affairs, she could always find interest if it had anything to do with Edelgard. This may have been pushing a boundary, though.

She wouldn’t know. 

She would never know if Byleth looked. 

There wouldn’t be a trace of evidence, not even a hair out of place if she were to lean over and scan over whatever it was that she had been writing. Nothing could go wrong, now. Besides, wasn’t it her job to some degree, anyways?

Hesitantly, Byleth took the half-step needed to look down and set her gaze upon the scattered paper and the precious lines of ink they held.

Suddenly, she couldn’t tear herself away. As she read, she found the world began to spin much faster, and the only stable point was on that desk. 

She wasn’t sure when she had begun to fly, she only knew that her wings were moving separately from her, and she was screaming out for Sothis as loud as she was able in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I’m glad I managed to finish up this chapter without going overboard!
> 
> Anyways, I’ve set a mini goal of hitting roughly 5k words per each chapter so I can at least pretend I’m pacing myself. I honestly have no idea of how long I’m planning for this fic to be, originally I was aiming for around ten chapters but started getting more and more ideas of what I could do and now I’m not so certain.
> 
> The idea of Byleth being an angel and Sothis being a passive goddess kind of seemed to fit into place as I started planning so I ran with it, although the details on how the whole thing works are kind of fuzzy I’ll try to describe them as best I can throughout the story. But basically, angels are like messengers for Sothis that patrol all over Fodlan and keep up with the humans and such. They don’t usually butt in but sometimes there’s exceptions (hint hint).
> 
> I’ll try to work out an uploading schedule but for now bear with me as I work my way through it all. This is my first multi-chapter fic and I’m mostly just trying to test the waters before I start planning out bigger ones.
> 
> Thank you all for reading!
> 
> (Comments are sincerely appreciated but please be gentle. I will cry :,3)


	2. Proximity

Edelgard von Hresvelg was going to start a war. 

When that information had fully registered with her and could be forcibly molded into words and told to Sothis, the result had Byleth more worked up than she had ever been, living or dead.

When Sothis had called some of the eldest angels into her personal section of Heaven, filling the typically quiet space with chatter and at some points outright yelling, Byleth’s nerves were being pinched and pulled in every which way. She had curled in on herself, hiding behind the protection of Sothis’s throne and wrapping her wings around herself like a cacoon. She had no desire to participate in the intense, frankly hostile conversation regarding the girl she had spent so much time watching over. 

Her mind had still been reeling with the thought that she was the cause of all this, by giving her life for Edelgard, the princess was now the subject of all manner of scrutiny. 

Byleth’s teeth grinded together and a low, guttural sound pressed out from her throat. It was all too much for her, and she wanted the painful tightening in her chest _out_. 

So she sat there and growled to herself, like a cornered animal because in a sense she was. It was all she could do to keep herself from lashing out at everyone in the area, the instinct to fight and silence the arguing voices starting to flare and grow. It was hot, dark, and dangerous, a fire that licked at her all over, burning her down to nothing but impulse. 

_“Calm yourself, child. It would do you no good to act so rashly.“_

Byleth barely processed Sothis’s voice entering her head. It was unwelcome now, if only because she was right. Her nails lowered to the throne’s platform, scraping across the stone and creating a horrid sound. She kept the rumble in her throat the entire time, no one dared to disturb her; not that they had use for someone who had such difficulty forming a sentence. 

Sothis sent soothing words through to her although it did little to nothing to coax her out of her stupor. The arguments had chewed through the last of her already dwindled patience but, thankfully Sothis had raised her voice and dismissed them as she knew Byleth was done with it all. 

The angels filed out with hushed murmurs amongst themselves. Byleth uncoiled and made her move to follow, intent on flying off to the far reaches of the continent where she would be unbothered.

“Halt, girl.”

She should’ve known that it wouldn’t be that easy. 

Byleth spun and sulked over to Sothis who sat tall in her throne. Her own posture was weighed down by stress and she made no move to correct it. She pinned her wings tightly against her back and schooled her expression into one devoid of the new, rampaging, unfamiliar things she was feeling. 

“You cannot simply flee with your tail between your legs from every thing that upsets you,” Sothis chided, her eyebrows pulling her face into a frown. “What do you hope to accomplish by running away?”

“Are you going to kill her?” 

Her voice was rough against her ears, the sound gravelly and dry. She hadn’t remembered giving the words permission to fall from her lips and yet they did so all the same. She fought with everything she had to reclaim control of her mind. Her memories were shoved and locked behind steel bars, her opinions beaten and left out to dry, the strange sensations that had been arching up through her chest were bound with chains and strangled until they were nothing but a weak buzz in the back of her thoughts. 

When had Byleth Eisner started to care about anything?

It took a lot to surprise Sothis, she had come to learn, but it was the only word she could dig up that described the look that appeared on her face. It had only been there for a heartbeat though, Byleth blinked and she had returned to the frustrated look that was all too familiar. 

“I don’t wish to kill my own people, Byleth.” Suddenly Byleth felt small and sheepish with the goddess’s cold voice grating against her. It had been a stupid question, but then again she hadn’t meant to ask it in the first place. She looked away from the emerald eyes that bore into her, she knew that her words had hurt Sothis whether she showed it or not. 

“I know,” she spoke low, not wanting to say anything more but knew that Sothis would be reluctant to embrace her at the moment. “I’m sorry, I just...don’t know what to do.”

Sothis sighed and leaned back into her throne, propping her cheek on the knuckles of one of her small hands. 

“Clearly,” She replied letting her eyes trace over Byleth’s form. “Although I must admit this has even me unsettled.”

When Byleth had read over the papers on Edelgard’s desk, she had expected to find something typical. Letters or personal writings, maybe. She didn’t know what to think. She had glanced over hoping to learn just a little bit more about the princess, innocent bites of information that she could tuck away into her memory. 

She hadn’t expected to find lists of battle formations, different routes she could take to reach Garreg Mach. How she would position her troops and all manner of different tactics to employ.

Byleth had told Sothis immediately, it had been ingrained in her to do so and she could never defy the goddess. Not after all these years. Yet, she wondered what would happen if she had simply never reported her findings. 

She still couldn’t figure out where she had failed. 

Edelgard had grown more reserved over time, by her own observations, but this was completely unexpected. Byleth hadn’t ever seen anything that would indicate an underlying animosity towards the Church of Serios from the girl. She still couldn’t deduce what the Church had done to garner her attention in such a way, it seemed completely random, but Byleth knew that it couldn’t possibly be the case. Not with Edelgard. She was careful and calculating, she never made any moves without thinking ten steps ahead. 

This had to have been in the works for years, underneath Byleth’s nose the entire time. 

It was her own fault. 

Her hands balled into fists at her sides and she forced her countenance to remain in its passive state, she didn’t want to let anything slip through. Even if Sothis were the only one to see, and the goddess could tell what she was feeling even when Byleth herself couldn’t. 

“Stop. No one blames you for this,” she spoke up as if she was reading the angel’s mind. She left her throne, standing before Byleth with a softer look in her eyes. “It’s only thanks to you that we even know of her plans. Now we can stop her ahead of time without the need of more drastic measures.”

Her hand reached out and took one of Byleth’s, giving it a reassuring squeeze that gave Byleth the confidence to meet her gaze fully. 

“If she succeeds in this, I have no doubt of the bloody ramifications that will follow.” Sothis knitted her brows closer together, searching Byleth’s eyes to make sure that she had her attention. “I cannot allow her to follow through with attacking the Church. Do you understand?”

Byleth nodded once, her head already spinning with the warning that had been laced within the words. “How do you intend to stop her?”

Sothis hummed rocking back on her heels in thought. She twirled a strand of dark green hair around a finger absentmindedly before returning her gaze to Byleth. 

“We will need a better understanding of the situation before I determine anything,” She replied, her tone unwavering. “Considering how you loom over her so often anyway, you should continue to watch her actions for anything alarming.”

Byleth tilted her head in agreement although she wasn’t particularly fond of Sothis’s phrasing. She wouldn’t have wanted anyone else given the task. 

“After we have more information, I can decide how best to intervene,” she let out a large yawn, “Be vigilant, she will be attending the Officer’s Academy this year, it is likely that she is going merely to have a better understanding of her future battleground. She will have to be more discreet in her actions, be mindful of that.”

“I understand.”

“Good.” Sothis looked her over with just the hint of a smile playing on her lips. “I know how much you care for her, so let’s resolve this as peacefully as possible.” 

Byleth felt her eyes narrow slightly, she turned her back to the goddess as she slowly spread her wings. 

“I just don’t want the life I sacrificed to be put to waste.”

She wasn’t a very good liar, but the words were more for her own sake, anyway. 

. . .

Byleth hadn’t been surprised to find Edelgard’s desk free of the papers from the day prior. Regardless, she still scoured every corner of the room until she was absolutely certain that there was nothing else that could be gleaned for information. 

The angel had been trying to analyze everything she knew about the princess, attempting to decipher a motive, an end goal, anything at all that could draw up the answer to the insistent question of _’why?’_. If nothing else, Byleth wanted to hear for herself why Edelgard had decided to walk the path she did. There was a logic behind it, hidden away behind all of the layers of insanity her plan seemed to present. 

She rolled around thoughts in her head, none of them being able to find enough traction to stick to the empty spaces where answers should have laid. It was more than troubling, she was putting so many lives on the line if she carried through with it. There was no doubt that the rest of Fodlan would be forced into sides, it wouldn’t just be a war kept solely between the Church and the Empire. 

Just how much blood did Edelgard intend to spill?

Byleth sighed, long and deep before reluctantly making her way through to her retainer’s room. Hubert was one of the few people Byleth could say with confidence that she didn’t understand. He was all rough edges and every word he spoke came out as a threat. He smiled, but it was always an uncomfortable and forced thing to look at. 

She hadn’t liked him at first, but seeing the way he vehemently searched for Edelgard when she had been taken away by her uncle made Byleth reconsider her opinion on him. He cared deeply about the princess, as if his life was meaningless in comparison. Byleth couldn’t exactly place his motivations or aspirations either, his existence seemed to revolve entirely around Edelgard. He held her so high up on a pedestal, far, far above himself. She wondered if he ever found himself drowning in her shadow, or if it was the only place he felt comfortable now. 

He had always trailed behind her, prepared to throw himself into whatever stood between Edelgard and what it was that she wanted. It was...worrying to imagine someone who had so little regard for themselves and what would happen if they were to be left to their own devices. Hubert’s will was tethered to Edelgard’s, however, and Byleth knew that she never took advantage of his blind devotion. 

But she could no longer say with confidence that she knew Edelgard, right?

The angel pushed the relentless questions out of her mind for the moment, she had no doubt that they would be haunting her for some time but she couldn’t let her ambivalence weaken her resolve. 

Hubert’s room was smaller, although kept in the same suspiciously clean fashion as Edelgard’s. Byleth hadn’t expected to find anything glaring obvious, but still felt the need to check otherwise it would have plagued her mind for hours on end. 

She knew that if Edelgard was plotting a coup against the Church, Hubert would definitely be involved. However it seemed that both of them were smart enough to ensure that their planning would be kept in secret. It was that thought that made Byleth question exactly how Edelgard was going to pull this off. 

She was next in line for the throne and had to be ready to assume it at any time, with her father being as ill as he was. Yet, his political influence was more or less nonexistent at this point. Edelgard was strong-willed, but her father had been as well. What was there to stop her from being reduced to the same powerless state he was in once she rose to accept her mantle as Emperor?

There was something pivotal Byleth was missing in all of this.

The angel quickly gleaned over the rest of the palace, she was not as thorough since she knew that it was unlikely that Edelgard was cooperating with any of the other nobles within the Empire. By the time she had finished, Byleth felt somewhat defeated at having made no more progress in finding any more information.

She decided to finally settle down on an overhang that gave her a clear view of the imperial gardens. Edelgard and Hubert were sitting across from each other, speaking quietly over tea that had been placed between them. She didn’t have to look to know that bergamot filled the princess’s cup. Byleth had listened to the first half of the conversation, but there hadn’t been anything that seemed out of place.

The gardens of the palace were in full bloom, varying flowers and plants of a multitude of colors spotted the area. Byleth knew enough to pick out some of the rarer variants and even some that she didn’t believe were native to Fodlan at all. 

The angel had a hard time taking her eyes off the princess, though. She still hadn’t placed the label of “heretic” to the girl. She wasn’t sure if she ever would, at least not until the reality had hit her squarely in the face.

Edelgard looked as if she were in a painting, surrounded by a vibrant rainbow of colors yet still finding a way to somehow be more preferable than all of them. “Pretty” didn’t quite do her justice, yet “beautiful” or “gorgeous” seemed too formal, too much like words that hid shallow flattery behind the syllables. Pretty was simple, honest, and that was what Byleth thought of her.

She had been having a hard time trying to find the adequate descriptions for the sensations she felt lately. Everything tended to be so subtle and hard to place, as if there were some sort of filter that made it difficult to properly process why she could feel a heart she didn't have beat in erratic ways. There were moments that she was able to puncture through that mysterious filter, like earlier when she couldn’t bear the thought of other angels speaking so ill about the princess, but those times always came with the cost of feeling...bad. There was hardly any other word for it, and she had a decent enough vocabulary. 

She didn’t like the thought of being left to the mercy of such volatile sensations, they rearranged her priorities and chipped away at her rationale. Although Byleth didn’t have a clear grasp on what triggered such extreme reactions, she could only assume the princess was to blame in that regard. 

It was hard to figure out just how or why Edelgard’s mere existence had such an impact on her. Sothis teased her so often about it in a way that hinted at her suspicions about romantic motives. Byleth didn’t agree, she didn’t have much to compare it to since the concept was entirely foreign to her, but it was more like she simply gravitated towards her whether she wanted to or not. 

She figured it didn’t meet the criteria for anything romance related at all, since her studies on the topic had implied that she would have been more ...physically inclined to the princess, which was another area in which Byleth had garnered absolutely no experience in.

As the angel peered down at Edelgard and let her thoughts flow and twirl around the princess, she came to the conclusion that she didn’t need a definitive answer. She was content just to simply enjoy her presence, even if that sentiment would never be returned. 

Something buried and locked away hissed at that conclusion. 

Edelgard and Hubert lounged about the gardens for a few more minutes, it wasn’t in typical fashion for the man to allow either him or his liege such luxuries but it seemed he was making an exception due to the pleasant weather. However when her retainer stood to leave, Edelgard spoke to him quickly in a hushed voice Byleth couldn’t make out before he swept her a deep bow and made his way back into the palace.

Byleth watched as Edelgard let out a long sigh, tilting her head back and allowing sunlight to wash across her face. She looked almost peaceful, but there was a tenseness in her shoulders that wasn’t lost on the angel’s trained eye. The action, however, did make her appear more open, more welcoming so without really offering it a second thought, Byleth gilded down from her perch on the rooftop. She landed delicately at the princess’s side, folding her wings against her spine and angling her body towards the girl as she nestled herself into place next to her. 

It was a sort of odd thing that she knew raised a few eyebrows from others, but she couldn’t help wanting to be ever closer to Edelgard. She knew Sothis could temporarily bring her back into the realm of the living, yet she was so reluctant to allow herself something of the sort. 

Even though she technically sat next to her, Edelgard was far, far away. Their worlds were separated and oh so very different. All Byleth knew was her role as an angel, she lacked so many basic things that could have made her pass for human. She didn’t want to take the chance that Edelgard would respond negatively, because in her mind it was the most likely outcome of any mutual interaction. 

She outstretched a hand, watching it merely pass through well-kept white locks. Were they as soft as they looked? 

“Would you hate me?” Byleth whispered quietly, her question lingering in the air for a long moment. 

“If I’m to be honest, I hardly know a thing about you. It would be hard to determine.” 

A beat passed.

Then two.

Then three.

_What?_

The voice that Byleth heard was Edelgard’s. Edelgard’s lips had moved to form the words. Therefore, by all logic, Edelgard was the one that had spoken. 

But that was impossible.

The girl moved to stare directly at Byleth, not past nor through, but as if she could _see_ her. It shook the angel to her core and she reeled back at the unexpected jolt of panic. 

There was no one else around them, no one else the princess could be speaking to. 

Her gaze was set and focused, lilac piercing indigo with such intensity that Byleth was frozen in place. Surely Byleth was mistaken, perhaps her wishful thinking had conjured up an illusion of some soft, because there was absolutely _no way_ that Edelgard was talking to her. 

“I was curious as to what would happen if I left my notes out for you to see.” The girl continued, her eyes narrowing only a fraction. “What would you do with that information? I was so keen to know that I acted rashly to find an answer.” 

Byleth didn’t respond visibly, her body rigid with tension and attempting to shove all reaction from her features, but her mind spun and whirled. She was getting dizzy.

“What are you? It seems no one around me can see you, nor hear you.” The princess questioned, her eyes never breaking contact with the angel. “Yet you speak, and have a will of your own so you cannot be a figment of my imagination, correct?” 

“I…” Byleth began, her mind had grinded to a complete stop and words, which were fickle to begin with, now fled entirely. She stumbled to her feet, feeling her wings unfurl of their own accord. 

“Wait,” Edelgard’s voice raised in volume and her eyes dilated as she stood as well, seeing as the angel was prepared to take flight. “Do I not at least deserve an answer?” 

“Byleth.”

Edelgard’s expression melted from concern to confusion, and it was only then that Byleth realized that she had failed to offer a complete response. 

“My name is Byleth. I...died some time ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had issues with notes so forgive me :,)
> 
> Anyways, I’m a bit late with uploading the chapter since I’ve been battling with this fic, which I’ve decided to take a new approach to. 
> 
> I’m thankful to those of you who have taken an interest and as always, thanks for reading!


	3. Uncertainty & Loathing

Edelgard had a shadow.

A literal one, of course, but she had been, for almost as long as she could remember, tailed by a girl with wings. 

She had no solid recollection of the time before she had been imprisoned, everything past that point had become diluted and her memories were fleeting and scarce. She had long since stopped really trying to work through what little fragments remained of her life before the experiments, yet she couldn’t help but wonder when this strange girl had made an appearance in her past, because her face was so familiar it was almost disturbing. 

She had started to see her on one particular day when she had been tossed back into her cell after being tortured for what felt like weeks. It was the day two of her siblings had died, and Edelgard recalled that she had been in so much pain that she didn’t think she would live much longer either. Through her haze of being lost somewhere between life and death, she saw a girl, who at the time looked only a few years older than she, with white-feathered wings that appeared ethereal in the dim lighting of her prison. 

She stayed by Edelgard’s side during that horrible night and she heard comforting words being whispered softly to her as she fell in and out of consciousness. 

The princess thought that she had imagined the girl, but the day the crest of flames took hold in her weakened body, she began to notice her once more. 

Edelgard had watched her move about, slipping through objects and people like a wraith, never truly there.

No one ever acknowledged her existence, nor vice versa. Her eyes hardly ever left Edelgard, always staring with wide blue irises that sent cold shocks over her body. At first, she was unsettled by her sudden appearances, because the girl did indeed materialize from thin air, but with time Edelgard got used to her presence, concluding that she was merely manifesting illusions from her imagination. 

It continued that way the remainder of the time she was imprisoned while her captors ensured that her body had truly accepted the results of the experimentation, Edelgard had started to believe she had fallen into insanity as a side effect of the implanted crest. 

She had taken to never looking directly at her, which was a task proven difficult since for whatever reason, the girl had a habit of getting oddly close to her despite the fact that they never physically touched. It was unnerving in the beginning as well, but Edelgard had seen her attempt to nuzzle into her arms once. The act was so incredibly endearing that she grew to find the gestures reassuring even if there was no sensation to accompany it. 

She realized that the girl wasn’t an illusion when she disappeared for several years.

She fled shortly following her release, and Edelgard thought that would be the last time she saw her second shadow. The princess didn’t miss her, per se, she had only lingered for a short while and it wasn’t as if they had any mutual interactions. However, it did take time for her to get used to the girl’s absence. It left her to wonder what exactly happened to her, why she had appeared and then why she had left. Edelgard was granted answers to none of these queries and simply accepted that the girl had faded from her life.

It was during this period that she began plotting against the Church, her time being consumed by hushed conversations with Hubert and desperately trying to find a way around cooperating with her uncle and his unholy company. 

There was none.

Edelgard would have rather gutted herself three times over before even considering the idea, yet there was no feasible alternative to achieve her goal of reshaping Fodlan’s society. So, she accepted the idea with a grimace and a promise to rid Fodlan of the Agarthans after their usefulness had expired. 

When the girl returned it was to Edelgard’s curiosity and amazement. She didn’t frequent as often, but when she did it was almost like clockwork. Once when the sun began to peek above the clouds, and then again when it started to fall below the horizon. Her approach was signaled by the stirring of any creatures about her, most typically in the form of little birds that had established a nest just outside of Edelgard’s window. She stayed in the corners of Edelgard’s vision, occasionally moving closer, then back, and then closer again. 

It never got the point of being overly intrusive, Edelgard noticed. If she made a move to change her clothes, the girl would scramble to leave the area as fast as her wings would carry her. It was cute, in a peculiar way.

She grew to create her own guesses as to what the girl was. It was obvious that she had a preference of staying near Edelgard, yet always left as if she had somewhere else to be. As if someone else was calling her. Did she have other people she watched over in a similar fashion or was she the only one? She considered asking her on numerous occasions, about herself, about why Edelgard could see her when no one else could, or why she seemed like she had leapt out of one of Edelgard’s foggy memories. 

The last question was perhaps, the one that Edelgard craved an answer to the most. The frustration she felt at not being able to recall who the girl was before she had been reduced to the “ghost” Edelgard saw now, was maddening. 

She could procure faint, indistinguishable wisps of a time she figured was associated with the girl, usually the pungent stench of blood and a younger version of herself screaming her voice raw. However, there were instances where she could picture the glint of a sword not her own, and wild strands of dark blue hair. 

They weren’t pleasant images in her mind, yet they were the only things that came to her when she tried to remember. 

As far as Edelgard could tell, the girl did not know that she was able to be seen by the princess. She never attempted to speak after the night Edelgard had been sprawled on the cold ground of her cell, and she never made any move to catch her attention. 

Her existence was the greatest mystery to Edelgard, simply because it was impossible.

In the crevices of the palace’s library, when she was definitively alone, Edelgard searched for anything that might help her gain some explanation as to why the phantom of a girl haunted her. 

She hadn’t been able to find much in the first hours she had spent. The library was full of more books than she could ever hope to finish in her lifetime, and she had been ready to accept that none of them would satisfy her. 

However, as she was plucking her way through one of the older books, she stumbled upon a tattered and faded image of a stunning woman with wings that stretched towards the clouds and a serene face that had become muddled with the aging of paper. The words beneath the drawing were nearly indistinguishable due to the horrendous penmanship, in stark contrast to the once beautiful sketch, but the few sentences Edelgard had been able to read were of a deranged author who was clearly in the throes of losing his mind. 

She was able to find a few more scarce mentions of such creatures, although it seemed as if anyone who was able to describe them did so reverently, as if they were praising the goddess herself. Edelgard admitted, she could understand why, seeing as the girl certainly held a certain otherworldly beauty about her. However, aside from that, there wasn’t much that struck her as being very goddess-like. 

As time went on, Edelgard’s curiosity became more and more insistent in the back of her mind. It only seemed to grow and fester, pestering her to the point where she found herself becoming distracted by her own drive to understand. 

She wondered what her unlikely companion would think of her ambitions. Did she already know somehow? The princess’s heart skidded to a brief halt with that idea. She had worked to ensure that her intentions were kept in as much secrecy as possible, the only ones the princess had allowed herself to trust were those who were directly involved, and even then she was still somewhat cautious. 

From what it seemed, the girl had no influence on this world; her presence as thin as air and not doing much of anything besides spectating. Still, Edelgard could feel some unfamiliar magic that seemed to spark to life whenever she was around, it was like a muted buzz that she only ever noticed when she concentrated hard enough.

She never seemed interested in anything aside from the princess herself, but Edelgard speculated that there was more to her than that. She had once been alive, a part of Edelgard’s life even, perhaps she could be of use somehow now. 

It was that line of thinking that convinced Edelgard blatantly leaving out hastily scrawled notes for plans she had already worked out on her desk, for the sole reason of seeing just what the girl would do. 

And that was what led her to be standing in front of her, who now bore more expression on her face than Edelgard had ever seen the girl with before. 

“Byleth,” Edelgard repeated, letting the shape of the name settle onto her lips. It was odd, yet fitting. “I suppose you already know my name?”

Byleth nodded once, it was a stiff action. Edelgard could practically see the tension packed into her frame, although she had managed to quickly cover the bewildered look that had passed over her. Those brilliant wings twitched with her anxiety, Edelgard felt if she misspoke even once then the girl would be gone before she could blink. 

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you, exactly?” Edelgard repeated, cupping her chin with one gloved hand. “You said that you are...deceased, does that make you a ghost or spirit of some sort?” 

“I’m an angel.” 

Edelgard waited for her to continue, yet as the uncomfortable silence dragged itself on, Byleth offered no further explanation. It was clear Edelgard was going to have to pry out the answers she sought.

“Are there more of you?” 

“Yes.”

“Do you know how many?” Edelgard opted to feed the angel the entirety of her patience, seeing as anything less might result in her fleeing, yet the curtness of her words and lack of overall responsiveness drew the string of it taut. 

“I’m not sure. A lot.” 

“Why can only I see you?” The question burned on her tongue as she finally set it free, she had been wanting to for years. It was worrying to think that there were others of Byleth’s kind that she wasn’t able to notice, yet it would also mean that they couldn’t directly impact anyone else as well. 

“I don’t know.”

Byleth’s answer made Edelgard’s quiet eagerness deflate. She was clearly as lost on the subject as she was, but the princess suspected that even if she knew that Byleth would hesitate to tell her, seeing how tight-lipped the girl was. 

She pretended she didn’t notice that the angel had slowly been inching away from her ever since Edelgard had stopped her from leaving the first time. She figured that she didn’t have long before Byleth inevitably flew away regardless. 

“Would it hurt you to...elaborate more?” Edelgard couldn’t help the trace of annoyance that bled into her tone, yet if she was affected by it, Byleth’s countenance didn’t give it away.

“No,” Byleth’s gaze flicked upwards for just a moment before returning to Edelgard’s. “But I’m not supposed to be speaking with you.” 

That caught Edelgard’s attention. 

“What do you mean? Is there someone who gives you orders against conversing with me?” She took a step forward to reclaim some of the distance Byleth had put between them without really thinking. The angel’s lip curled just slightly enough to let Edelgard know she wasn’t fond of her forcefulness. 

“There is.” Her voice dropped in volume as she flared her wings out. “She’s expecting me back.” 

There was something in the way that Byleth spoke those words that made Edelgard suddenly nervous. Perhaps she had made a mistake in revealing that she was able to see the angel. If Byleth decided to never come back again, Edelgard would be left alone with the dozen questions she’d been nursing for so much of her life. 

Yet, she could do nothing as the angel pushed herself into the air with one beat of her large wings. The warm glow of foreign magic seemed to wrap around her as she held herself a good distance above Edelgard. Byleth paused, using the steady rhythm of her wings to suspend her in the air. Her back was turned to the sun as it illuminated her from behind in such a way that made the princess’s breath catch for just a moment. She looked down at Edelgard with a furrowed brow and a strange look passing over her eyes. 

“Will you return, or is this the last I’ll be seeing of you?” Her voice held the note of desperation she’d been attempting to repress since the start of this bizarre encounter. Edelgard had seen this conversation going in an entirely different direction, hoping that the angel would gladly put all of her secrets on display for the princess at her request, to have the answers to most if not all of her questions. 

It had been a childish dream, she realized just a few minutes too late. 

Byleth’s eyes held hers for a long second, Edelgard felt as if she were being picked to pieces with just that look alone and it made her skin crawl with discomfort. 

“I don’t know.” She finally replied, beginning the fumble with her own hands. “There’s a lot I’m unable to tell you of.”

_Clearly._

“I’m sorry, Edelgard.”

With those last syllables, the magic that had been flowing about the angel sparked and snapped, and within the instant she had disappeared before the princess’s eyes. 

. . .

Edelgard was slowly building a running list of the things she despised. 

Most of that list’s occupants were in relation to her uncle and the Agarthans, and of course the archbishop and the corrupted system of nobility within Adestria, however the current receiver of all the hatred she could muster was in the form of her ridiculous disguise as the Flame Emperor. 

The armor that made up the suit was suffocating, and it was _everywhere_. From the godforsaken mask that obscured her face and most of her vision down to the iron greaves that clung to her body like a curse, she hated it. Even worse was the revolting purposes for which it had been crafted, it symbolized her current powerlessness in the face of her uncle, something she knew she would have to wait quite some time before she could correct. 

But for now, every minute morphed into an hour.

Kostas was a horrendous man, the sort of which Edelgard would have personally driven her axe through if presented the opportunity. She was bothered mostly by his arrogance, which was nearly baseless, however he knew his weapon well enough and with his band of thieves and some luck he could cause a fair bit of trouble.

Which was just what Edelgard was intending for him to do.

The princess flung a pouch of gold filled to the brim at him, effectively interrupting whatever nonsense he had been spewing for the past few moments. She had tuned him out long ago. 

“All you need to do is eliminate as many of the students as you are able, nothing more and nothing less.” Her voice had been distorted by whatever magic the Agarthans had infused into the mask, it came out as robotic and dull. “It should be a simple task.”

The bandit leader pawed through the gold with an appreciative whistle, tossing his axe haphazardly over his shoulder.

“All this, just to take out some brats, huh?” He offered a wicked grin, one that made Edelgard’s scowl deepen from behind her mask. “What’d they ever do to you?”

“That’s none of your concern,” She bit back, more aggressively than intended. “You should know better than to question one’s motives for such a thing.”

Kostas shrugged, securing the pouch to his belt. She was grateful that he didn’t bother to try and push the question any further, not that she would have let him. 

Edelgard had been set in her goals, knew that the path she was choosing to walk was one that would leave blood pooling at her feet. She strengthened her resolve and never let her uncertainty slip through, but no matter how she hid it, nothing could ever erase the fact that it existed.

She knew what she wanted, but she didn’t always know if she was taking the correct approach to get there. 

Edelgard turned with a flourish of her cloak, tapping into the magic embedded within the suit of armor and feeling the warp spell take hold of her. It was an unpleasant feeling, but one she was beginning to get used to the longer she kept up her ruse. 

Agarthan technology was something that Edelgard could find impressive. It had been cultivated over time and constructed in order to push the very concept of magic to limits. Even the most skilled mages in Fodlan would be unable to achieve in their lifetime. It could be devastating in the wrong hands, which unfortunately it was currently. 

As the spell faded, Edelgard stepped back into the familiarity of her quarters in the palace. It took some effort for her to free her body of the Flame Emperor armor, especially on her own but it wasn’t as if she could ask her maids for help, and she could never entertain the idea of Hubert assisting her even though she knew that he would do so without complaint. 

She sighed with relief as she threw the mask onto her dresser and proceeded to slip out of each piece of armor, the weight of the metal was cumbersome and she was always glad to be rid of it.

Once she had finished she fell upon her bed and stretched her sore limbs, letting her hair fall loose and free around her shoulders.

“You can reveal yourself now.” She called out beginning to brush out the knots that had formed in the silvery locks she bore. 

A beat after, Byleth was standing before her, wings folded to her back. Her face, as usual, set into a completely unreadable expression.

She had seen the occasional glint of white feathers throughout the day, or a blur that seemed to draw no one else’s attention. Edelgard knew well enough where to turn her gaze to catch such glimpses, because despite her efforts, the angel was not very difficult to spot if Edelgard knew to look for her. The tell-tale glow that seemed to surround her ensured that the princess wouldn’t have much trouble locating her if she was in the vicinity. 

“You plan to slaughter innocent children?” The question was more of a statement, spoken in a voice that lacked any semblance of emotion. The angel stared at her owlishly with her eyes giving nothing away.

“I do not seek your approval of my actions.” Edelgard responded, continuing to brush her hair, although she did feel her movements become rougher subconsciously. She regretted calling Byleth out from hiding now, but figured the angel would have appeared of her own accord at some point or another.

“I know,” Byleth replied, “but you don’t seem content with them either.”

Edelgard didn’t respond. She didn’t trust herself to not get hysterical, because quite frankly, she was at the point where it was a very real possibility. She had all the justification she needed for what she was doing, that was the thought that had been burned into the forefront of her mind. She didn’t need anyone to tell her whether they thought she was right or wrong, Edelgard knew that she would be mostly beside herself in her ideals. 

Byleth had never accused her of anything less than what she knew to be true. Edelgard didn’t know what the angel thought of her, or the war she was planning to start. 

But for some, inexplicable reason, she didn’t want her to fall among those who despised her.

To be hated was something Edelgard had prepared herself for. To be hated by someone like Byleth, who never seemed to like or dislike much of anything, well…it would be saying something.

They remained in silence, the only sounds being that of the sound of the brush smoothing over Edelgard’s hair. She had come to accept Byleth’s staring as another one of her unusual quirks rather than something meant to intimidate or threaten, she wasn’t sure the angel was the sort to do something like that anyway. 

“I suppose you must have permission to be speaking to me, seeing as you’re here.” Edelgard said, quirking a brow at the girl. 

“Something like that,” Byleth responded, rocking back onto her heels. She wandered over to the princess’s dresser, observing the mask Edelgard had discarded. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll be feeling very conversational towards me in the future.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 5k word goal died last chapter but I'm officially announcing its death now, rest in peace buddy. I came to realize that my eight second attention span and I wouldn't really be able to keep up with that sort of pace, and I'd end up bogging the chapter down with lots of boring fillergraphs. It was either update less to meet the goal or just ignore it and save myself from the stress :)
> 
> Anyway, I think I'm going to hop between Byleth and Edelgard's points of view to keep things interesting although I don't know if I'm going to try and make a pattern out of it or not. Sorry if the change threw you off this chapter.
> 
> Additionally, I apologize for any errors in these chapters since I get really excited about posting them and don't do a great job proofreading.
> 
> Hope to see you all again sometime next week!


	4. Revival of a Guardian

“What do you make of this?” Byleth questioned as she paced the perimeter of Sothis’s chambers, her eyes locked only on to the spot in front of her she moved, although it did nothing to calm the anxiety that burned in her throat. She knew Sothis had been watching her interactions with Edelgard, especially considering the new development that had been unveiled earlier. 

It hadn’t fully hit Byleth that Edelgard had been able to see her all this time, and the angel was more than happy to pretend that it meant nothing. Sothis had nearly fallen over herself with laughter when she had run to her in a panic; Byleth wasn’t sure it was something to make light out of considering how the goddess preferred to keep their existence mostly hidden from humanity. 

Mostly.

“Would you stop with that?” Sothis called to her, gesturing to Byleth who had paused mid-step to blink at the goddess. “It is nothing short of _annoying_.”

Byleth released a drawn-out sigh as she came to stand before the goddess, folding her hands behind her back. 

“She is planning to work with the Agarthans, it would seem. Their forces combined with the Empire’s could prove to be problematic.”

Sothis let out a short laugh that was devoid of humor. “Catastrophic, actually. That is the more appropriate word.” She reclined against her throne, letting out an overly-dramatic groan. “What a troublesome child.” 

Byleth could agree with that opinion. 

She wondered what could have possessed Edelgard to cooperate with the same individuals who had harmed her so. Did she truly despise the Church that much?

“She’s hired a group of bandits to kill students from the Academy on an upcoming camping trip. I’m not entirely sure why.” Byleth kept her voice level but grew quiet as she neared the ending of her words. 

Why?

_...Why?_

“It doesn’t sit well with you.” Sothis stated. The goddess propped her chin atop one of her small hands and assessed Byleth with her gaze. 

The angel was no stranger to death. She had been a mercenary and the title alone meant she had gotten her hands bloodied from a young age. Being an angel, she had witnessed death of all sorts. It didn’t discriminate between those that it sunk its dark claws into, but of course she knew that all too well. 

It felt different when it came to Edelgard.

“No.” Byleth replied. “It doesn’t” 

Sothis tilted her head to one side, the motion briefly reminding Byleth that she frequently did the same. The similarities between the two of them at times were...striking, not so much in appearance or personality but in the form of smaller habits. Byleth wondered just how much of the goddess’s quirks she had picked up over the years. 

“You feel responsible.”

Byleth inhaled, deep and long. “I am. I gave her my life, whatever damage she causes is because of me.”

Sothis’s eyes narrowed just a fraction, the pupils there flashing into slits and back so quickly that Byleth could have imagined it. 

“Shoulder the blame if it pleases you,” the goddess replied coolly. “I know trying to convince you otherwise is useless, bull-headed as you are.”

Byleth offered a half-hearted shrug, letting her wings follow through with the motion. She knew that she had no direct control over Edelgard’s actions, the path the princess had chosen was one that she had crafted all on her own. Yet, to some degree, this was indeed her fault. When she rushed to defend the little princess, she had given her a new chance to live, what Edelgard did with her life now was her own choice, but it was Byleth who had even created that choice in the first place. 

The angel stepped forward, a hand placed gingerly over where her heart would have resided. “I wish to handle this matter personally. If you’ll allow me.”

. . .

Byleth was perched in one of the trees that overlooked the camp, a buzz humming throughout her being as she waited. 

She hadn’t ever understood the concept of deja vu, but now it pulsed through her head with a vengeance. 

The sky was tinted a dark blue, and the camp was quiet as each of the students slept soundly in their tents. Save for one Adrestian princess, who had shot her a quizzical glance when their gazes had met a few minutes prior when the girl had gone to secure an iron axe from the convoy. 

Time seemed to crawl along, never before had it felt so slowed to the angel. She had flown about, searching for Kostas and his small army of bandits many times earlier, until Sothis had hissed at her from within her mind to simply ‘be patient’. Now with nothing to distract her, the only option she had was to wait. 

And how awful waiting was.

Her thoughts ran circles around varying possibilities, mostly those that involved her failure. This was a delicate situation, one that could go awry at any given moment if she wasn’t cautious. Sothis would be able to rewind time if absolutely necessary, but Byleth knew that using the ability sapped her of much-needed energy. Not to mention the amount that was already required for this plan of hers to be seen into fruition.

She had acted on a whim, asking to be given the mission of stopping the bandits. It had been years since she felt the hum of battle, and her last experience hadn’t exactly gone well. Byleth wasn’t one to fail, yet it seemed to be becoming a more common occurrence recently.

The angel found idling to be a gruesome punishment, she wanted to rid herself of her fears and worries and the easiest way was through distracting herself with something, anything. However, she remained tethered in place, repressing the urge to fidget. 

_”My, how tense you are. I suppose it is warranted, however.”_

The goddess’s voice startled Byleth, making her bolt upright from her crouched position. She really hadn’t ever gotten used to hearing someone else’s voice in her head, but Sothis did it often enough that she figured she should have by now. 

_”I believe those ruffians will be arriving soon, are you ready?”_

“I think so,” Byleth responded, pushing herself into the air. She flew a fair distance away from the camp, enough so that the trees and vegetation would conceal her. She took in a deep breath to steady herself. 

_”I do hope you still remember your way around a sword, or else this will all be for naught.”_

How reassuring of her.

Byleth shut her eyes as a searing heat burst through her core. It pulsed and spread, engulfing her in its warmth. The sensation was unpleasant, though she wasn’t sure what to expect from this manner of magic. It continued this way for what felt like too long, the discomfort growing to border on unbearable and she wondered for a moment if perhaps Sothis was instead trying to burn her alive, until the heat finally dissipated and the angel fell gasping into a heap against the earth. 

“That _hurt_.” Byleth croaked out, raising herself to her knees. The flood of having her senses return was nearly too much, and she had to take a few more shuddering breaths before being able to stand.

Each of her limbs were now burdened with flesh and blood, she had forgotten just how it felt to actually weigh something. 

She had forgotten what it felt like to be alive.

_”Ah, I neglected to warn you of that. It isn’t an enjoyable process.”_

“Yes, thank you for telling me that _now_.” The angel replied, although the words lacked any bite to them as she was busy flexing her fingers, in awe at how she could feel where her nerves branched out through her body.

The ground beneath her shoes, the chill of the dawn air, it was all so foreign to her now. Experimentally, she pinched at her own cheek, startled at the small jolt of pain that the action caused. The corner of her mouth twitched, though she didn’t allow the smile a chance to truly stretch across her lips.

Byleth snapped herself away from admiring her newly acquired physical form. There likely wouldn’t be much time for such a luxury. 

She fumbled at her belt, surprised to find a sword already sheathed at her side. She drew the steel, watching as it glinted just faintly in the slowly encroaching light. It was the one she had died with, it seemed. 

Fitting.

A shout sounded from ahead, along with the echoes of metal on metal. Byleth managed to spur herself into a sprint as she tore her way towards the camp where it was sure to have come from. The feeling of running was just as invigorating as she remembered. The wind lashed at her face and arms as she ducked under low hanging branches or leapt over logs.

Her legs seemed to carry her faster as the sounds of fighting grew closer and louder, there still wasn’t a heart to beat through her chest yet she could still feel a burst of energy spike through her.

A flash of black and yellow was her only warning before her body collided with another. She let out a grunt as she and whoever she had run into tripped over each other. Byleth recovered her weapon as fast as she was able before spinning to point the blade towards her new company. 

A boy she recognized as Claude von Riegen looked up at her with wide green eyes before bolting to his feet and holding up a hand in surrender.

“Woah there,” he said, a smile sliding easily into place although it failed to hide his nervousness. “You don’t look like a bandit.”

After a pause Byleth let her stance drop, glancing back towards the direction where the commotion had begun to grow more prominent. 

“I’m not,” she replied curtly, moving to continue onward before a tug on her jacket halted her. She turned to stare at the boy who had a grip on her sleeve. 

“Let me go.” She demanded with a quiet authority, prepared to leave her coat behind if necessary. 

“I will, I will, but are you-” 

“ _Claude!_ ”

At the sound of more footfalls approaching them, Byleth let out a sigh, yanking her jacket from the hand of the archer. The angel turned to face the other students that were likely fleeing as well and was surprised to find the other two house leaders jogging up to them.

Edelgard’s eyes widened to the point where Byleth was soon hardly able to see anything save for the darkness of her pupils. Her face soon became devoid of all color and Byleth hoped she hadn’t frightened the girl too badly, though the expression she bore was one that the angel catalogued into her memory. She came to a stop along with another blonde haired boy, Dimitri, if she was recalling correctly. 

The two took a moment to catch their breath, mostly Dimitri as Edelgard seemed to have forgone all movement and opted to instead look bewilderedly at the angel who fought to keep from staring back at her too intently.

“Where exactly did you plan on going off to?” Dimitri questioned, his brows furrowed as he glared at the boy, pinning him with a burning look.

“To find help, looked like we could’ve used some.” Claude tucked a hand behind his head, using the other to gesture at Byleth. “See?”

“Funny, to me it looked as if you were running away,” the prince replied in a scolding tone. 

Regardless, Dimitri then shifted his gaze from Claude to Byleth, the irritability faded and gave away to a polite kindness. He offered a quick bow, one that had been well-practiced.

“Hello, my name is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd,” he swept a hand towards Edelgard, who had moved from awed staring at the angel to a look that held enough cold, raw anger that Byleth felt a slight chill run down her back. “This is Edelgard von Hresvelg, we are students from the Officer’s Academy and-”

“Save the pleasantries, Dimitri.” Edelgard hissed out, the venom that dripped off her words more directed at Byleth than anything, but still visibly startled the other two students. 

“Right,” Dimitri replied, giving Edelgard a puzzled look before continuing. “Our camp is currently under attack by bandits, if you weren’t already aware. We really could use assistance in warding them off.” 

Byleth brushed past the prince, staying clear of the seething princess. “I was already on my way.” 

The four of them ran towards the camp where Byleth could now make out multiple forms engaged in conflict. She could spot a few Knights of Seiros in the mix, due to the well polished and kept armor that they sported in contrast to the worn leather, furs, and cloth the bandits bore. 

_“Be careful, this form I’ve granted you is fragile. If you sustain too much damage you may be forced to retreat before this vessel is ruined.”_

“I understand,” Byleth responded quietly. Though, she felt as if the adrenaline that pumped through her would make it difficult to assess her own state of health.

She allowed her mind to fall into that same diluted state that separated the world only into enemy and ally as they neared the camp. Suddenly it wasn’t as if she had spent the last few years a mere spectator to other’s lives. The sword in her grip was an extension of herself, it was familiar and just as much a part of her as her arms. 

She threw herself at the first bandit that she came across that had just knocked down one of the students who had been caught unarmed. Byleth inhaled, swung, and exhaled. Each consecutive blow aimed to kill. She slashed until he fell to the ground, unmoving, before prowling onto the next victim. 

It was like a dance, someone had once told her when she was young. To wield a sword she needed to be light on her feet, always have her mind on the next move as opposed to her current one. The ebb and flow of battle carried her across the camp, her eyes always darting to the next foe she needed to down. 

Byleth’s body twisted and turned to dodge attacks, sometimes she would find the need to parry but it was rare. Her attention was locked onto the bandits, a threat that needed to be neutralized. Time seemed to speed up and slow down on a whim, yet it had no effect on the angel as she spun around blades, arrows, and magic, it was irrelevant in the face of her task.

She wasn’t sure exactly how many bandits there were, nor how many she had fallen. Her blows all seemed to blur together as she fought, her sword keeping pace with an inner, thundering rhythm. 

Byleth’s focus was primarily on the offensive, and Sothis occasionally warned her of students or knights that were beginning to get overwhelmed so that she may rush to assist them. With the goddess as an extra set of eyes, Byleth was able to attune herself to those she was meant to protect as well. 

She was keenly aware of Edelgard’s presence throughout the battle, however; it was something that was unusual for her. She found her gaze traveling to the girl, wondering if she was holding her own. Byleth hadn’t truly had the opportunity to witness Edelgard in combat before, and it was a shame. 

She was clever with an axe and seemed to move with a precision and grace that had gotten Byleth injured at some point due to her staring. There was something hypnotizing about watching the snowy waves of the princess’s hair flow around her as she wielded her axe and Byleth found her focus shattering on too many occasions for someone who was meant to have been a former mercenary.

Still, she had a mission to see through, and that she did. 

The battle was short lived, after the students had recovered from the surprise attack they were able to make quick work of the bandits who were apparently unprepared for the knights to be a part of the group they were targeting. Most escaped after having been defeated, but Byleth was reluctant to offer as much mercy as her allies.

It wasn’t until she could no longer find another victim that she stopped, the deadly song that guided her fading into nothingness.

Some part of her was disappointed.

“Wow.”

Byleth turned to look at Claude, who had an eyebrow raised at her with a curious grin stretched across his face. He was soon joined by the other students who had been present, murmurs passing between them.

Byleth flicked her sword, sending the blood that had clung to it onto the grass before sheathing it. Her confidence in battle was limited to only that and she was unsure of herself all of a sudden in the face of new attention.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone fight like that before,” Dimitri spoke up, coming to stand before her. “It was quite impressive.”

“Yeah, makes me glad you were on our side.” Claude chimed in, clapping her on the shoulder. 

“Um,” Byleth began, shying away from the students. “Thank you.”

She turned her gaze over to the side, where Edelgard stood some distance away from the others. They had fought alongside each other in brief moments, though Byleth gave her a wide berth in the event the girl decided to ‘accidentally’ take her axe to the angel’s skull.

She would need to deal with that later. 

“Why, you…!” A shout rang clearly in her ears as she spun to see Kostas, who she thought had retreated, making a dash towards the princess who had only had a dagger readily available. 

_Fuck._

Byleth was moving before she could give a second thought about how familiar this situation was. Her legs had jolted her forward of their accord, and she was moving to intercept the bandit leader before the rest of the students or knights could even turn their heads

Her mind was clouded with the sole desire to protect the princess, and her body responded. As she skidded to a halt before Edelgard, facing Kostas, she knew she wouldn’t have enough time to be able to block his attack nor make her own. 

Byleth didn’t quite process what was happening until it had already occured.

Her wings, something that should not have been attached to her physical body, sprung from her back in all their uselessly beautiful glory. She saw more than felt them wrap around her front like an embrace while she waited for impact. 

There was a sound of something crashing down to her left, but her vision was obscured to the point that she couldn’t make out what had caused the commotion. 

When Kostas’s axe made contact with her, there was no pain in the way she had been expecting. Instead, the attack was deflected and simply bounced off of the glimmering feathers. The angel had enough sense to quickly recall the limbs, and they were gone just as quickly as they had appeared. 

He stumbled backwards, letting out a curse before turning tail and sprinting away into the surrounding forest. Byleth felt the overwhelming urge to give chase and hunt him down, it was a sudden and powerful feeling that took much of her restraint to fight off. 

She turned to look at Edelgard, her eyes taking in her form for any manner of injury. She knew it was unlikely the princess had been hurt with the angel serving as a physical barrier between her and the threat, yet she still had to ensure no harm had befallen her. Despite herself, Byleth stretched her hand out, caressing Edelgard's cheek in a form of reassurance. 

“Are you alright?” She heard herself ask, her breathing labored and heavy.

“Yes…” The girl responded after a beat, her eyes were wide and glassy with what Byleth thought might be fear. They stood there for a moment with their gazes locked, without thinking the angel gingerly tucked a lock of hair that had gone astray behind the princess’s ear. 

It was as soft as she had always imagined it to be.

 _”You absolute_ idiot _!”_ Byleth winced at Sothis’s shriek, lowering her hand. _“You are lucky I caught onto your little stunt in time!”_

The angel turned then to look towards the other students only to find that an enormous tree had toppled over, effectively blocking her view of the camp and, hopefully, their view of her as well. So that was what had caused the noise.

_”Now shoo! Get out of here lest you decide to do something else even more foolish.”_

Byleth made a move to do exactly that, having no interest in sticking around any longer, but as she began to trot away she noticed Edelgard was still staring after her. 

The angel offered a small wave and pulled her lips into what she hoped was a normal looking smile before slipping away into the darkness herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why but this is the fastest I've ever written a chapter, not that I'm complaining!
> 
> I know I probably confused some of you, so let me clarify: Kostas was not the bandit that killed Byleth in the past, it was an entirely separate group. I just didn't have enough brainpower to think of a better way to have her die so, why not? Sorry for essentially having the same sort of scene twice but I threw in a little twist to make it more interesting. ;)
> 
> I'm enjoying writing this fic and reading the comments you all have left, it's nice to know that there are people out there that like my writing 
> 
> Hope to see you next week!


	5. Insurmountable

Byleth didn’t manage to get far before the absolutely awful burning sensation ran through her veins again. She managed to suppress a groan of pain while the flames of the goddess consumed her once more. It felt worse this time as they syphoned away at her, more deliberate than before. Sothis wasn’t pleased.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, she was reduced to her typical weightlessness, the pair of wings that had been cloaked with magic now visible against her spine. She was lighter without a body to hold her down, but there was a definite heaviness that still seemed to loom over her. 

_“Do actual thoughts run through that head of yours or do they all revolve around your princess?”_

Byleth can’t help the wave of shame that rushes through her. She had acted wholly on impulse and nothing else, and it had almost taken a turn for the worse. Edelgard made her irrational, and try as she might she couldn’t fathom why.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend for that to happen, it just...did,” the angel replied, searching for the best way to articulate what had occurred. “I wanted...I wanted to save her. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Even as she spoke the words sounded pitiful leaving her mouth. Had she been more vigilant there would have been no need for her to have run in so rashly. Yet, she could only bring herself to regret the way she went about things, not rescuing Edelgard herself. 

For the second time.

There was also that box of chaos to unpack. If she had simply not rushed to save the princess, then their problems would be solved, right? Byleth hated the idea, hated herself for even _thinking_ about it. Goddess, it was confusing. She wanted to prevent a war, but didn’t want to turn against Edelgard, was such a thing even possible? She could still recall the steely gaze the girl had focused on her, at the time it was amusing, but now she didn’t find it as comical.

Sothis went silent for a moment, as if she were thinking yet Byleth could still feel her presence in her mind. Finally, she let out a sigh. 

_“I cannot stay cross with you for long, but I urge you to practice caution should such a situation arise again.”_

“I will,” Byleth gave a slight bow she heard Sothis scoff at. “Should I continue to monitor her movements?”

_”I think that would be for the best.”_

Byleth let out a sigh of her own as she raced back to the camp, which felt much faster and more pleasant with the assistance of her wings, where the group was beginning to load their supplies into the convoy. There was a lively buzz of conversation from the students, mostly about her and the earlier scuffle with the bandits. She didn’t pay much mind to the talk about herself, although she knew it was likely to spread like wildfire once they returned to the monastery.

Students there seemed to lack any sort of real action to their lives, so gossip settled instead. A story of a stranger who showed up to fight and disappeared before the sun had risen would likely be something new and fun for them to sink their fangs into and blow out of proportion.

The three class leaders stood, talking amongst themselves away from the others as Byleth sauntered over, coming to a stop at Edelgard’s side. The princess didn’t offer her so much as a glance, acting as if she hadn’t seen Byleth at all, but the angel had come to learn that the girl was particularly sensitive to her presence now. 

“It’s a shame that woman left so suddenly, she truly was a capable fighter,” Dimitri spoke with a twinge of disappointment in his words, although Byleth wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t as if she had done anything worthy of the amount of attention she seemed to be receiving.

“You said she left to chase after the bandit leader right? Maybe she’ll turn up again,” Claude added looking over at the Edelgard, though he didn’t sound nearly as crestfallen as the prince.

“We can’t simply wait around to find out, we’re expected back at the monastery by noon,” Edelgard replied, moving to leave the two boys, it was obvious to Byleth that she no longer wanted to hear anymore on the subject. 

“I’d want to at least thank her if I were you, your highness.” Claude threw in the title with a smirk and a clear tease. “Seeing as you owe her a bit more than the rest of us.”

Edelgard spun on him with a glint in her eye. “I would’ve managed just fine if she hadn’t intervened, if that is what you are implying.”

Claude backed off with a quiet ‘woah’ and a cheshire grin that solidified that he wasn’t sorry in the slightest for the remark. He let Edelgard march off to join the students and knights that were beginning to set off for the journey back to Garreg Mach.

Byleth slid into step with the princess, noticing that she finally gave the angel a fleeting sideways glance out of the corner of her eye. 

“I’m under the distinct impression that you aren’t happy with me,” Byleth said gently, assessing Edelgard’s countenance to confirm her assumption. A slight frown had settled onto her features, though Byleth guessed it was more out of irritability than her being actually upset. 

The princess didn’t respond and instead moved deliberately past the angel, increasing her pace just enough to brush by. The angel easily caught up to her once more, quirking her head to one side. 

“Am I wrong?”

Edelgard let out a displeased breath, still opting to ignore Byleth’s questioning. The angel knew very well that she had been playing along the princess’s wavering tolerance, but considering that she was to be lingering about the girl more now than ever that she should perhaps make some attempt at bettering their currently uncomfortable relationship.

“I didn’t wish to upset you. I only did what I thought was best,” Byleth continued, persistence did not always pay off but she didn’t have an alternative to coaxing a response from the girl. 

The princess pulled away from the rest of their group, far enough to be out of earshot before finally granting Byleth a reply. 

“Tell me, did the goddess send you down specifically to pester me as a punishment of some sort?” She hissed out quietly, and the words bit into Byleth like a lash. It seemed no matter where she turned she was in for a reprimanding, though she supposed she was deserving of it. 

Despite that, she couldn’t help but let a small smile etch her features at Edelgard’s question, as it was hard not to appreciate the irony of it. 

“You could say that,” the angel replied, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice. “Though, I don’t mean to annoy you, exactly.”

“Then leave me be. Do you not have someone else to answer to?” Edelgard asked, her words were accented with a roll of her eyes. 

“I’ve been ordered to keep an eye on you,” She replied, hearing a wry laugh echo in her mind. 

_“Only because you have practically made yourself her retainer.”_

Edelgard looked at her with a strange expression, one that made Byleth wonder if she said something wrong. 

“Who exactly have I gained the attention of?” Edelgard asked, her voice hesitant, as if she were wary of Byleth’s answer.

The angel paused and thought for a moment, tapping her index finger to her chin. 

“The goddess, Sothis.”

Edelgard had gone silent once more, her features failing to provide any indication as to how she was receiving the information. Byleth figured she deserved the right to know as much, considering it wasn’t likely Edelgard would bother to try and explain to someone else that a girl no one but her could see had been following her about under orders of Sothis herself. She wasn’t in a position for her mental state to be questioned, so Byleth assumed she would remain tight-lipped on the matter.

“Your jokes are in poor taste, you know.” The princess eventually replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder in a way that would’ve hit Byleth if she were still tethered to a physical body. 

She doesn’t try to correct her, it would involve more explaining than decided Byleth she would’ve cared for. Though, she would have to at some point. 

They continued on, Edelgard beginning to lag behind the rest of their group, whether it was due to wanting to speak with her more or simply because it was difficult for her to keep up due to her short stature, Byleth didn’t know. 

“May I ask you a question?” 

“You already have,” Edelgard’s tone was sarcastic, but Byleth apologized all the same.

“I just wished to know why exactly you are so intent on starting this war. What did the Church do to gain your hostility?” She couldn’t think of a way to phrase her inquiry delicately so she settled on being blunt. 

The angel watched as Edelgard donned a poised mask, one that she had clearly refined throughout her years. Byleth was able to see through it, the way her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, how the girl’s body tensed up as if she were ready to leap into battle at the first signs of anything amiss. 

Her gait became just a slight more unsteady, as if Byleth’s question had caught her off guard and she was physically thrown off by it. Her eyes locked onto a spot in the distance, straight ahead. There was a pain hidden just beneath them, like tears that she had held trapped behind a dam that would never be allowed to spill. 

“I do not wish to speak of it here, but I provide you with an answer at some point.” She replied, colder now. 

Byleth nodded, letting the subject drop. She hadn’t intended to upset the princess, but it seemed whatever her reasoning was fell deeper than what Byleth had anticipated.

“I think I am able to answer your questions more adequately now. Would you like to ask me anything again?” 

Edelgard seemed to release some of her tension, turning instead to gaze at the angel with a curious look. 

“Yes, actually.” She began. “For clarification, you were alive at some point?” 

Byleth nodded. 

“I do not have many of my memories from before…” The girl trailed off, and Byleth filled in the blanks on her own. Something about seeing how Edelgard grew visibly distraught when the topic of her experimentation was mentioned made that strange fire light up within Byleth, and suddenly she wanted to track down everyone who had ever hurt her and end their lives herself. 

“I understand,” Byleth replied, making sure she kept her expression and tone neutral, not wanting to let such a feral desire reflect externally.

“Well, I was wondering if you and I happened to cross paths prior to that, perhaps when you were alive. I have vague snippets of what seems to be a rather traumatic moment when I was a child, and I swear at times I see glimpses of someone who is reminiscent of you there as well.” 

The angel’s mind barely managed to keep from sputtering into malfunction, and she could just remember to walk alongside the princess. 

It was the one thing she _hadn’t_ wanted to talk to Edelgard about. 

Byleth herself was still attempting to sort through the years of confusion that had been brewing over how she felt about being dead indirectly because of the princess, which had been slowly tearing her to shreds over time whether she chose to fully realize it or not. She kept that inner turmoil mostly to herself. Largely, she was uncaring, her life hadn’t been particularly glamorous, living with her father and his mercenaries always travelling and fighting with very little time for actually being the child she should have. In reality, Edelgard’s life had meant more to her in that moment simply because her own was so empty. 

On the other hand, well she wondered if maybe there could have been more to her existence than just swinging around a rusty old sword. 

Her life was one of the few things she could safely say she had owned, and it had been fleeting and traded in for that of a girl who was now insistent on starting a war that would sap others of theirs. She had come to care for Edelgard, but that affection was always clashing with the reality that she wasn’t someone who she should harbor such feelings towards. 

She didn’t want her to carry guilt over her shoulders the same way Byleth bore hers. Not over something she had no control over. 

“No, I don’t recall ever meeting you.” 

. . . 

Following that, their journey grew to be filled with silence. Edelgard had seemed disappointed in her response, and Byleth wasn’t entirely sure the girl believed her. 

The angel had opted to fly overhead after that, making sure there were no more dangers that lingered on the path ahead, occasionally circling back to ensure Edelgard was well. 

It hadn’t taken very long for her to spot the grandiose structures that made up Garreg Mach in the distance. She had never really lingered about the place for long, as she was always unsettled by the unnaturally ‘holy’ aura the place seemed to possess. Large spires jutted out and into the clouds like claws, towering stone walls lined the perimeter of the monastery, and she could make out the form of the cathedral from her where they were.

She had been there for longer than she would have liked in the past few weeks, though, with Edelgard having to move into the dormitories to attend the Academy. She had been willing to guide the princess around the monastery when she had first arrived, since the angel had gotten herself familiar with the place over time. 

Most of the students had taken to groaning and complaining about the hike back from the camping trip and their pace had slowed significantly since the beginning of the long walk. They were also likely exhausted from the surprise attack earlier, so it wasn’t as if Byleth could blame them, even Edelgard seemed weary from the journey. 

She flew low enough so that she was just above the princess’s shoulder. “We’ll be arriving at the monastery soon, are you feeling alright?”

Edelgard nodded once, for someone as small as she, the princess had impressive stamina and endurance. Even so, Byleth could see sweat beginning to bead up on her pale skin. 

“I’m fine, and I don’t need you to constantly fret over me.” Edelgard replied sharply.

“I am sorry it bothers you, but I don’t think I can stop myself from worrying.” 

Edelgard looked up at her then, confused. Byleth was sure she was about to ask what she meant by her words, but the angel didn’t give her the chance.

“I’ll leave you be for now, it seems your peers may be getting concerned as to why you’re muttering to yourself.” 

And that she did, coasting high above a very puzzled Edelgard the remainder of the way back.

. . .

It wasn’t until they had passed through the guarded entrance to the monastery and into Edelgard’s dorm that Byleth flitted back to the princess’s side. 

She sat upon the small bed and Byleth simply stood in the corner of the room, absentmindedly glancing over the few books Edelgard had procured from the Academy’s library. 

“How much do you know about me?” 

The angel turned to glance at the princess over her shoulder, wondering what had prompted the question. She returned her gaze back to the books.

“I know you are the ninth child of the Emperor. Your uncle, Lord Arundel, took you and your mother to the Kingdom of Faerghus when you were small to seek asylum. When you returned, you and your siblings were taken and tortured by a group of mages-”

“Stop.” The command was given with such authority that Byleth did so as soon as the word had left Edelgard’s lips. She moved to face the princess, stepping closer to her. 

“Was that not the answer you were hoping for?” Byleth questioned.

“No,” she sighed deeply, closing her eyes for a moment. “I just don’t need to hear any more.”

Byleth hummed in response, letting an awkward silence fill the void between them. 

“Bergamot.” 

“Pardon?” 

Byleth focused on a floorboard, fidgeting with her hands. “You like bergamot tea, it's your favorite. You also enjoy sweets, but hardly eat them in public. You assume people would think less of you for it.”

She glanced up to assess Edelgard’s reaction, and saw a flicker of surprise dart across the princess’s features. So she continued.

“You dislike not being in control. You can’t swim and have a fear of large bodies of water because of it. But…” Byleth let herself fall off, struggling to find her verbal footing.

“I don’t believe I know you. Not in the slightest” 

She could’ve listed off any number of things that she knew about the princess and not one of them meant anything. Connecting facts to a person was one thing, to truly understand them is another. Edelgard had hidden herself away, defending against everyone and everything. Behind those high walls she had built, the angel had no idea who she was. 

“I think I might like to, though.” 

Oh, how desperately she wanted to.

Edelgard blinked up at her, and Byleth saw the faintest blush dust her cheeks. She hadn’t even realized how close she had moved to the girl. It was the result of her unfortunate habit of unintentionally invading others’ personal space, something she tried to be conscious of. 

Byleth was starting to drown in those pretty lilac eyes, they pulled her close and closer still until she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but stare. Edelgard seemed just as trapped in time as she was in that moment. Or, at least that’s what she thought.

“I don’t know if I can trust you enough for something like that.” Edelgard spoke softly and the words pricked Byleth just a touch. She knew well enough that it would take more than she had in her to bring down those long-standing defenses. It didn’t mean that she wasn’t hurt, just that she understood why.

Byleth backed off, the spell that had enchanted her momentarily broken. She returned to her place in the corner with a shrug.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to NOT write these chapters like one-shots but until I figure out how to work that out, enjoy the random time jumps and weird endings :D
> 
> Kinda upset since I had something fun I wanted to write this chapter but decided it just didn't fit, so I'll make sure it makes it in next time.
> 
> Thanks for reading and hope to see you next week!


	6. A Fault in Her Armor

There would be a mock battle at the end of the month. It was one of few things Edelgard could say she was looking forward to. 

Classes had been, well, less than informative, but she found herself in the midst of a budding companionship between all of the Black Eagles. It was so unusual for her to be in such an informal setting, yet, she discovered she enjoyed it all the same.

Edelgard wasn’t particularly close with any of her classmates to the point where she could call them anything other than that, but still there was definite potential for a friendship among some of them. 

Hubert seemed to believe she was a machine of some sort, always task oriented. She didn’t think for a minute that a single one of them would support their cause, and for once she wasn’t pretending to enjoy someone’s company, despite what he thought.

Let him believe it if it let her have just this one small part of her life.

Jeritza was an awful professor, if she were being honest with herself. She was surprised that he had made it as far as he did without being discovered, but she supposed that was mostly her and Hubert’s doing. 

Edelgard assumed the Church must’ve been desperate to pull him into the position, seeing as he was a poor fit for it. His voice was low and deep, always monotone and slow. Edelgard had never found fault with it until she realized it was the sort of voice that lulled most of her peers into daydreams and dozes during lectures. 

Hell, she had even caught herself nodding off one unfortunate class period.

He had a hard time commanding attention, the class did often get rowdy at times, and usually he let them bicker and argue to their hearts’ content and the responsibility of redirecting the Eagles’ attention typically fell to Edelgard.

The man was never organized and got just a _little_ too passionate when discussing combat tactics. All in all, Edelgard spent less time learning anything and mostly concentrated on trying to manage both her and her “professor”’s ruse. 

The princess was blearily trying to blink the sleep from her eyes when a bell chimed somewhere outside from a tower, marking the end of the session. 

She let out a sigh, stretching her arms over her head as she stood from her desk. Today’s class had been uneventful, as per usual, and she had busied herself with a sketch on some of her notes for the first hour or so, but eventually it had grown to lose its appeal and she was left to actually attempt to listen to the lecture, which was a bad decision in hindsight. 

As she was making her way out of the classroom, Dorothea eased into place next to her, typical somewhat flirtatious smile on her features.

“Hey there, Edie.” She greeted in that also somewhat flirtatious voice. It had taken Edelgard some time to get used to that. 

The princess gave her a polite smile and a hello, she had been cozying up to Edelgard since she’d arrived at the monastery, though she was naturally amicable towards everyone so it wasn’t anything strange. 

The girl had come to poke at the border that separated acquaintance from friend, and Edelgard was finding it harder to resist her easy smiles and gentle touches. She didn’t want to get attached to anyone, because in her experience she would be left alone in the end with no one but her brooding retainer for companionship. 

“I know you always eat with Hubert, but I can’t imagine he makes for the most...entertaining company,” The girl said, lacing her arm with Edelgard’s as she pulled her in the direction of the dining hall. “Come spend some time with Petra and I instead, would you?”

“Well I suppose that would be fine.” Not that the princess was being given much of a choice in the matter since Dorothea had already laid claim to her and left a very grim faced Hubert behind in the classroom.

. . .

The songstress proved to be a wonderful conversation partner, even over a meal. She guided Edelgard and Petra into varying, topical subjects. How training was going? That last assignment was really rough. Professor Jeritiza doesn’t take the mask off, no. 

“Oh, Edie, I heard you were attacked on that camping trip,” Dorothea mentioned, giving the princess a worried look. “Bandits, right? It must’ve been awful, although…”

The concern that the songstress wore was quickly replaced with something much more devious. “Rumor has it that an absolute goddess of a woman rushed in to protect you, how lucky.” 

The princess sputtered, just barely keeping her tea from leaving her lips. She swallowed thickly, trying to regain some form decorum while Petra kindly patted her on the back in an effort to keep her from choking. 

“I’m _sorry_?”

Dorothea sat forward eagerly, and Edelgard could practically see the stars in her eyes. “So it’s true, then.”

“I have been hearing of that as well,” Petra chimed in, cupping her chin in thought. “She was having much, er, had much skill in battle.” 

Said “goddess” was currently outside in the courtyard, with a very excited dog barking at her heels and paying no mind to the conversation within the dining hall from what it seemed.

“She was very proficient with her sword, yes.” Edelgard replied from behind her teacup, trying to avoid responding to Dorothea’s comment, though the songstress clearly wasn’t going to allow such a thing. 

“Was she as hot as all these whispers make her out to be? C’mon _spill_ , Edie.” Dorothea forced her to put the cup down and clasped both the princess’s hands in her own. 

“Sh-She was… very attractive,” the admission has a flare running across her cheeks and it gets deeper because to her utter horror Byleth has materialized next to her with the damn dog in tow, leaning just into the princess’s peripheral vision. 

Edelgard wishes she had been struck dead that morning. 

Dorothea grinned from ear to ear, and squeezed Edelgard’s hands just a tad too roughly. 

“It’s not every day that a complete stranger jumps into danger for you, unless,” Dorothea grinned at her and Edelgard wants to slam her head against the table when Byleth settles down next to her, because something in the universe was out for her blood today. 

“Was she really a stranger? Some secret lover perhaps?” 

Edelgard groaned and stood up abruptly, her face growing hotter by the second. “No, Dorothea, I have no idea who she was and I am most certainly _not_ in that sort of relationship with her, or anyone for that matter. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” 

The princess left with laughter following after her and a request that they have lunch again sometime. 

Byleth followed her, because of course she would, and as Edelgard marched to the dormitory the angel strode beside her. Was that a damned _smirk_ on her face? 

“You find me attractive?” 

“Shut up.”

. . . 

The training grounds were blissfully empty that Saturday morning, and Edelgard took full advantage of it to spend some time practicing a few new techniques Jeritza had demonstrated on the dummies already assembled there. 

She was usually up before any of her peers, and the sun had just begun to turn the sky from black to blue when she started lugging her iron axe through the wooden figures. 

The princess was keenly aware of Byleth watching her from the sidelines, and she was clearly interested in Edelgard’s movements. It was strange to have the angel observe her with such intensity and she found herself making more errors than she would have if she had been alone. 

She still didn’t know exactly what she thought of Byleth, in all her oddly unkempt charm. The angel was flighty and always cautious around her, like Edelgard was some fragile thing that she could somehow break. Never before had Edelgard met someone who was so honest and open, though, and it was something she appreciated about Byleth. The angel wasn’t one for deceit or lies, but even still, she _had_ completely ruined Edelgard’s plans with Kostas, and it still left a bitter taste in the princess’s mouth even now. 

She had meant it when she said she didn’t trust Byleth, but it was hard to keep reminding herself of that fact. 

The angel had been mostly good-natured so far, if not a little gauche. Edelgard wanted her to make up her mind on whether or not she was going to be helpful or not so that the princess could decide the best way to view her. 

The princess stumbled as a result of a scattered mind, losing hold of her weapon and nearly crashing into the ground. She was grateful no one was around to see such an inelegant display. Well, almost no one. 

Byleth was hovering over her before Edelgard could look towards where the angel had once been. How was she always moving around so fast?

“Are you alright?” Byleth’s face is as impassive as ever but Edelgard can hear just a twinge of distress in her voice. 

“I thought I said to stop fretting over me,” she said, straightening her posture and facing the angel with a puffed chest. 

“I find that difficult,” Byleth replied, glancing the princess over. “As I mentioned earlier.”

“I’m not a child, nor do I need _another_ person to glower over me as such. Hubert is doing his job well enough,” Edelgard scoffed. “Not that you would be able to help me if I required it immediately anyway.”

Byleth blinked at her, and Edelgard is getting tired of that blank stare.

“I wouldn’t let you die.” 

Byleth is still looking at the princess when she lets the words loose into the early morning air, but it feels as if the angel is talking to someone else entirely when she speaks them this time. Her cornflower eyes have narrowed just slightly and she looks about ready to throw herself in front of another axe to get her point across.

“There are things worse than death,” Edelgard uttered before she could stop herself. She didn’t need to dive into that particular conversation right now, and she went back to swinging her axe half-heartedly at the already damaged wooden dummies before the angel could properly start it up. 

There’s nothing to fill the silence except for the sound of iron on wood and her own sounds of exertion. Byleth is still watching her, but Edelgard tries her best to ignore it. If the angel was going to be a constant presence then she would learn to block her out. No more distractions.

She steps into a downswing, one that hits with enough force to make her whole body recoil with the sensation. If the dummy had been a person she’s confident they would be dead or on their way.

All the attacks she makes are designed to be lethal, and she’s been trying her best to ensure that she always puts enough into them that even if they aren’t initially that they will be. Training is difficult without a partner, but she manages. She always has. 

Her frustrations have proved themselves to be a wondrous fuel for her to continue long after she would usually have started to feel the pull of exhaustion. There’s always enough of them to feed on. 

Kostas had failed miraculously in every sense of the word, not a single student had taken anything more than some minor injuries that had been patched up in a few minutes by white magic. Dimitri and Claude, her primary targets, were still very much alive and would likely complicate things in the future when she launched her initial attack on the monastery. 

It would be fine, a few students likely won’t throw her plans too far off course, but there was someone who appeared to have the potential to. 

She needed to find a way to keep her plans a secret from Byleth, especially if the angel decided to become an even greater nuisance. It would be difficult, but not impossible. The alternative was something she knew would likely never happen if Byleth was already under orders from someone else, and that was to try and sway the angel to her cause. 

_“I don’t believe I know you. Not in the slightest”_

_“I think I might like to, though.”_

Fuck.

The wooden figure burst into splinters underneath her axe as she felt both her crests beat to life, completely unbidden. Edelgard stood in the center of the destruction, chest rising and falling with the effort. 

The princess felt a chill, and spun to glare at the angel who had reappeared behind her, hand lifted as if to touch Edelgard’s shoulder.

“Must you always-” She began, ready to snap at the angel who seemed to constantly be getting in the way of things. 

“May I spar with you?”

Edelgard paused, knitting her brows together. That had taken her off-guard.

“How would you do such a thing?” She asked, quirking a brow.

Byleth thought for a moment before manifesting a sword seemingly from nowhere. “It won’t be exactly the same, but better than destroying the rest of the training equipment, right?” 

She smiled at the princess, it's nothing grand but it's genuine and also only the second Edelgard has ever seen from the angel. There’s something pounding in the princess’s chest that she refuses to believe is her heart.

“Fine,” she conceded. In reality, if she hadn’t been so upset she would’ve been awestruck like the rest of her peers at Byleth’s capability in battle. The angel had better swordsmanship than Edelgard had ever seen before, and was clearly more experienced than she would’ve expected at first glance. 

But she supposed if she took a minute to really look at her, there were pieces of a story etched into to Byleth’s body. Nothing that stood out in passing, but the angel’s defined biceps and calves or the small hint of her toned stomach spoke of someone who had trained enough to obtain such features. There were also scars visible all over her and likely many more beneath her clothing, the princess didn’t deny her curiosity towards those.

Byleth moved to the other side of the grounds, twirling her blade. 

“First to land a hit wins?” The angel asked, cocking her head to the side. Edelgard nodded, shifting her position into a combative one. 

She doesn’t know much about how Byleth fights. Her time with the bandits was short-lived since the angel had finished them off so quickly, but she did learn one thing.

Byleth’s eyes were her tell.

She always looked at where she would be focusing next, always one step ahead it seemed. 

“Ready?”

Edelgard responded by charging headfirst at the angel. She wasn’t normally so reckless, but she was already worked up enough that she just wanted to fight without all the need for heavy planning or strategy. 

Byleth easily dipped out of the way, casting a glance directly at the princess’s newly exposed midsection. Edelgard managed to bring her axe down fast enough that the angel was forced out of the advance lest she ended up getting “hit”. 

Edelgard was aggressive in her attacks, without the fear of injuring the angel or breaking anything she was free to be as wild as she pleased with her blows, though Byleth wasn’t giving her much room to actually do much. 

She fought with the same sort of gleam to her eye that a cat had when chasing after prey, Edelgard supposed she was the unlucky bird in this scenario, though she wouldn’t let Byleth win so easily. 

“Mind your footing,” The angel said, jabbing in a way that nearly made Edelgard trip over herself. “You have to be aware of yourself as well, not just your enemy.” 

The princess tsked, swinging her axe just shy of Byleth’s chest. The angel dashed in to close the space between them, and Edelgard was trapped in the deep pools of indigo that were the angel’s eyes. Byleth gave her a wink before tapping Edelgard’s stomach with her blade. 

“Again,” she breathed out, swiping the back of her hand across the side of her mouth. A flush that had nothing to do with her earlier efforts making its way into her face.

She was tired of this...this _woman_ worming her way into her head.

Byleth hefted her sword over her shoulder and flew back to her starting position, leaving Edelgard to trot back to hers. 

There was something carnal that demanded that she claim victory over Byleth, even if it was less than probable since the angel didn’t seem to be anywhere close to tiring whereas she was beginning to feel herself start to slip. 

They held each other’s gaze as Byleth began to circle her, the beginnings of another smile forming. She wasn’t smug, just...happy from what it looked like. 

With each step the tension sparked within the princess and she wanted to run straight to the angel and start swinging, but knew from their last bout that it would do her no good. She could be as aggressive as she wanted in her attacks but Byleth was too good at reading her and she could just wait until Edelgard tired and easily land her hit.

She would have to play more defensively.

Edelgard didn’t let the angel get behind her, but let her keep walking, looking for an opening in the princess’s defense. Byleth eased in closer to her gradually but Edelgard held her ground, until finally the angel dashed forward.

She was faster than the princess was expecting and forced her into a roll to dodge the attack. The angel didn’t relent there and turned her missed jab into a swing aimed just a hair away from Edelgard’s head.

The princess breathed and swung her axe low, catching Byleth off guard and forcing her backward. From there she continued her advance, forcing the angel to stay on her toes to avoid being caught with her weapon. Edelgard didn’t want to continue expending energy on something that seemed so fruitless, but maybe the angel wasn’t as perfect as she seemed. 

Angel or not, Edelgard would cut down any obstacle in the way of what she desired, and right now she wanted Byleth underneath her boot. 

She managed to back the angel into a corner and lifted her axe to Byleth’s throat. Byleth held both her hands up in surrender and the sense of accomplishment that washed over the princess was the best feeling she’d had all week.

The angel was staring at her like she had sprouted a second head, with wide eyes that were strangely full of life for someone who technically wasn’t.

“What?” Edelgard asked, wondering what was so interesting about her face that Byleth felt the need to look at her that way.

“It’s nothing, but,” Byleth gave her a lopsided grin that made Edelgard’s head spin. “You’re smiling, you know.”

“So are you,” she bit back, unable to hold the angel’s stare any longer. “It’s not like I never smile.”

“You...You’ve never done it at _me_ before.” 

She’s right, and that realization makes her want to stop, say it doesn’t mean anything and pretend it didn’t happen. She shouldn’t get involved with someone who’s dead, of all things. But she can’t find those words, can’t find it in her to say the things that’ll surely rid her world of that cute little grin the angel’s wearing and she doesn’t know if she wants to.

_Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The little demon in my head that wants to start rushing things wrote this chapter, I just came along to clean it up a bit. 
> 
> I've been sort of jumping all over the place trying to explain the chaos that makes up El and Byleth's emotions because there's just a lot that I want to express all at once and it's just hard to find the right words at times. I fear I might not be a skilled enough writer to get the sort of feelings across that I would like but oh well. 
> 
> The challenge that comes with writing someone who's meant to be somewhat emotionally inept but has a soft spot and someone who is just generally conflicted with themselves and their desires is what makes writing this fic enjoyable but it definitely can get rough at times.
> 
> Anyways, this technically counts for next week's chapter and since I'm about to start getting rather busy I'm not sure if I'll be able to push out updates as often. Though, I really do enjoy writing this fic so I think I'll find a way to make time for it.


End file.
